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Transcript/ScriptNATO UKRAINE WEAPONS (TV)
HEADLINE: NATO Summit: What New Weapons Have Been Pledged to Ukraine?
TEASER: U.S. President pledges an additional $800 million in security assistance
PUBLISHED AT: 6/30/2022 at 6:04p
BYLINE: Henry Ridgwell
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Madrid
VIDEOGRAPHER: Henry Ridgwell
VIDEO EDITOR:
SCRIPT EDITORS: MAS, Bowman, DJ
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA, Reuters, APTN, AFP, Teams, NATO
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB _X_ TV _X_ RADIO __
TRT: 3:22
VID APPROVED BY: Reifenrath
TYPE: VPKGN
EDITOR NOTES:))
((INTRO)) [[As NATO leaders met in Madrid this week, Ukraine demanded new heavy weapons to defeat Russia’s invasion. So what has been promised – and what has been delivered? Henry Ridgwell reports.]]
((NARRATOR))
More than 450 Ukrainian troops completed training on new weapons in Britain this week – including multiple launch rocket systems, or MLRS. They are seen as crucial in countering Russian artillery.
((Captain James Oliphant, British Army))
“Because it's a tracked vehicle, (whereas) their rocket systems are wheeled, it's going to give them more mobility, which is going to aid in their survivability.”
((NARRATOR))
Britain and the United States have supplied several MLRS to Ukraine alongside other heavy weapons — howitzers, armored vehicles, drones, air defense and missile systems.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told NATO leaders he urgently needs more advanced weapons.
((Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian President (in Ukrainian) ))
“By providing them to us, you can completely break Russia's tactics to destroy cities and terrorize Ukrainian civilians.”
((NARRATOR))
NATO itself is not supplying heavy weapons to Ukraine.
((Jim Townsend, Former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Europe, NATO))
“That’s not NATO itself as an institution providing things, it doesn’t have them. But its allies do. And so NATO has been very supportive of allies providing that assistance if they can. There’s an absorption rate and a training rate that has to be met as well in terms of timing, and that's what we're seeing play out."
((Henry Ridgwell, VOA News (standup version))
Despite those constraints, several NATO members have made new pledges at the Madrid summit.
((NARRATOR))
U.S. President Joe Biden said an additional 800 million dollars of military support was on its way to Ukraine – with over seven billion dollars pledged so far by the administration.
((President Joe Biden))
“Including new advanced Western air-defense systems for Ukraine, more artillery and ammunition, counter-battery radars, additional ammunition for the HIMARS multiple-launch rocket systems we've already given Ukraine and more HIMARS coming from other countries as well.”
((NARRATOR))
Britain Thursday pledged an extra 1.3 billion dollars in military aid, taking its total contribution to 2.8 billion dollars.
France said it plans to send six additional self-propelled "Caesar" long-range artillery systems – taking the total to 18. Ukraine is reported to have deployed these on the Black Sea coast close to Snake Island – which Russian forces abandoned Thursday.
Germany has pledged to deliver 15 anti-aircraft tanks in July, while Spain is considering sending around 40 German-made Leopard tanks – though Berlin would have the final say.
But as the war enters its fifth month, the West still has not supplied heavy weapons in the numbers that Ukraine says it needs.
((Fabrice Pothier, Former NATO Head of Policy Planning))
“There is a political calculation that we should give a bit more, but not so much that somehow we can feed and trigger an escalation that gets out of control. And in a way, I understand the logic, but I think it's profoundly wrong because fundamentally that means we are asking Zelenskyy to fight with one hand in (behind) the back.”
((NARRATOR))
Ukraine says it needs a ten-fold increase in the supply of weapons to counter Russia’s arsenal of artillery.
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)Madrid
Embargo DateJune 30, 2022 16:35 EDT
Byline((Henry Ridgwell, for VOA News, at the NATO summit in Madrid.))
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
