MOSCOW, January 10. /TASS/. The Stryker armored vehicles that may be included in the new package of US military aid to Ukraine are poorly suited for rugged terrain and have drawn a lot of criticism from Washington itself, says Vladimir Chizhov, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council on Defense and Security.
Earlier, Politico reported, citing its sources in the Pentagon, that the US Department of Defense is considering sending Stryker combat vehicles to Ukraine, and they may be included in a new aid package that could be announced by the end of next week.
"Washington’s declared intent to augment (apparently, in the future) the Kiev regime’s arsenal with Stryker armored vehicles looks like yet another exercise in creating the impression of both a boundless readiness to pump Ukrainian neo-Nazis with ever more heavy weapons, as well as the unlimited capacity of their own arsenals and financial resources. Plus, there is an apparent desire to encourage doubting European allies,” Chizhov said.
"In reality, though, even before they started implementing their previous plans (50 Bradley armored vehicles), the Americans rush to announce shipments of an undefined number of wheeled armored vehicles, extremely inconvenient to transport by air (not every plane can lift a Stryker – in Iraq, for example, the external armor was transported in a separate Hercules plane), and, most importantly – poorly suited for use on rugged terrain even for transportation of infantry,” the senator said.
According to Chizhov, it is difficult to come up with a different use for this weapon, which has “already attracted much criticism from the US itself.”
On January 5, US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz published a joint statement, claiming that the US Administration will ship Bradley armored vehicles to Ukraine, while Germany will ship Marder vehicles.
According to Pentagon assessments, since the beginning of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, the US has already allocated over $24.2 billion in military aid to Kiev. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and other Russian officials have pointed out the danger Western weapons to Ukraine spreading to other regions. Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov warned that the Western militarization of Ukraine directly threatens European and global security.