In the early months of 2023, military personnel from the UK, Ukraine and the US completed a series of military exercises at the US Army base in Wiesbaden, Germany, where Ukrainian officers were attached to a newly established command responsible for supporting Kyiv’s struggle, The Washington Post reported.
Planners conducted the exercise using special war-game software and Excel spreadsheets, and sometimes by simply moving fragments around the map. Senior officials, including General Mark A. Milley, then chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Colonel General Oleksandr Syrsky, commander of Ukrainian ground forces, attended several simulations and were briefed on the results.
During one of his visits to Wiesbaden, Milley spoke to Ukrainian special forces in the hope of inspiring them to conduct operations in enemy-controlled areas.
There should be no Russian who goes to sleep without wondering if they’re going to get their throat slit in the middle of the night. You gotta get back there, and create a campaign behind the lines.
Milley, with his green maps of Ukraine, showed potential areas of attack and the deployment of Ukrainian and Russian forces. He and Austin explained their conclusion that “Ukraine, to be successful, needed to fight in a different way.”
Planning envisaged more and better Western training, which up to that point had focused on training small groups and individuals to use Western-provided weapons. Instead of firing artillery, then “inching forward” and firing some more, the Ukrainians would be “fighting and shooting at the same time.” Meanwhile, newly trained brigades will move forward with armoured vehicles and artillery support.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suddenly cancelled a video-link appeal to US senators scheduled for December 5, as Washington prepares for a pivotal dispute on funding for the war in Ukraine.
Zelensky was scheduled to appear at a classified briefing a day before the Senate would take its first vote on an emergency aid package including more than $60 billion for Kyiv. However, the money was delayed due to a congressional dispute as the White House warned that current funds would run out by the end of the year and that Russia could win if lawmakers failed to reach an agreement.
Zelensky by the way could not make it – something happened at the last minute – to our briefing.
