Kampfjets für die Ukraine? Militärexperte: "Krieg wird auf Schlachtfeld entschieden"

Yes, and now we want to broaden our perspective a little and talk about how this trench warfare could develop in eastern Ukraine and what role Western

milit

ary aid could play, and we are now discussing this with

milit

ary historian Prof. Dr. Sönke Neitzel , Hello. Mr. Neitzel, may he be with us, hello, if he has any questions for Mr. Neitzel or would like to share his opinion on the topic with us, please do so here on YouTube or Facebook chat or by email at ZDF. [email protected] Bachmut has been like this for months. It was a very hard fight, what strategic importance does this city have in your eyes?

So I think we have to remember that Ukraine has a relatively well-developed defensive position. In Bakhmut they have the opportunity to fight the Russians tactically for a relatively long time and if they give up, the next line of defense is Hinterbach with very difficult and very open terrain, which is why Ukraine is so attached to it. There's also the thing: if we do it and give up, which is what we just heard in the article, then maybe all will be lost. What comes next in cities like Bakhmut you can inflict losses on the Russenhof, that's what all the other battles have.

It has already been shown and you simply have the best opportunities to expand because of Bach's geographical location and that is one of the reasons why Ukraine will become so attached to it. Now he has already hinted at something like that in his contribution, a symbolic question because if Zelensky were there, it would be a blow like the one in Ukraine if you had to resign, but we also have to realize that if Bakhmut falls, of course you will receive 10 kilometers with the same intensity further west. So it is simply a situation where Ukraine is under great pressure and that is why you can certainly still see the most important movements of the public, yes, you just mentioned it, there is relatively little we can do regarding the development in this moment of a quasi-military passport and where could this lead in the long term?

And consequently, one user also asks when we will finally start trading. Sending more and more weapons is not a solution. Let's start with the user's question, so of course I think that's behind it. Basically there is an attempt to explore options, to explore negotiation possibilities, but of course this does not happen openly, which is why the German ambassador in Moscow de Geier, of course, does not explain it now live on ZDF. , so he is currently planning to do it, but of course this is not a secret and I would have a lot of confidence in the Foreign Office and also the Foreign Offices of other states that they do not pick their noses but naturally , they try to calculate. things and make them possible, the problem is that wars are normally not decided at the negotiating table but on the battlefield and that is terrible for us, the Germans can appear and as long as both sides believe they still have a military option, The war on the battlefield will continue and in my opinion, of course, I cannot say exactly how it is developing now, Putin is of the opinion that the mobilization in the fall of last year also has much broader military bases, the Russian armed forces have increased significantly. and I think I can argue that Putin believes he has more influence, which is good, but there is no reason to engage in negotiations because he believes that over time he will have a better place than Ukraine and of course Ukraine also hopes that Western weapons will be will deliver, which will make this have an impact, so this German attitude that comes from the user of this voice can really end, that is very understandable but, in my opinion, that is not Putin's logic and logically it is not Ukraine, which Of course it does.

Of course it will end soon, but we would like the Russians to leave our country and we saw them at a post. Right now we are fighting for survival and the idea of ​​reaching a compromise is not very attractive. , especially when we see the war crimes of courage and so on. We also have a community opinion on the topic: Bora B says on YouTube that Selensky should not have talked about Bakhmut in Washington, that was a big mistake. Putin decided to raze the city on the issue of military support from the West, we have been talking about it for a long time and now the decision has been made to hand over the main battle tanks.

Change, especially in this situation, or will they be a little late because there are still four, that is, more or less eight weeks until delivery, so they will certainly not be on the front before the end of March? Will this supply of battle tanks really affect us? Yes, it is actually very difficult for us to estimate that today, above all, we do not have to know anything about this war. Let's say again very clearly at this point how everyone is doing. We are discussing this and you can see in the media here we are all trying to form an opinion, we know that we are not saying now in military functions that very little is said about the war, but even the Bundeswehr knows very, very little about the situation in Ukraine.

Ukraine is very secretive, so it is difficult for me to answer this question, but now I am starting to figure it out a little, so there is talk of the delivery of almost 100 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine right now today and Now right now they have around 6 to 800 tanks that they are using to support their infantry, we haven't seen any major tank battles so far and the question is whether that will change so that these Leopard tanks will be used differently than the Ukrainian tanks. For example, an area of ​​Ukraine that we don't know about and that can or the States of Ukraine, Judge General, that depends a lot on how Ukraine uses these tanks, that depends on many factors, so that is an open question.

I don't think 90 main battle tanks. In this war it is essential. In my opinion, the Ukrainians are still too weak for a big counteroffensive because the big guys have mobilized and from this point of view what they just said is too little or too late, maybe maybe then maybe it's true. because in September last year, when the fronts were moving, if Ukraine had started the offensive, these tanks could certainly have made a difference. We'll see if they can do it now, it's definitely a strengthening of Ukraine's defense capability, but if they will. can really contribute to turning the war into a war soon, we will have to wait and see and I would at least put a question mark with a pencil in the direction of Moscow, something even more important to ponder.

We have here, chronologically speaking, another question. before weapons deliveries by the community, namely YouTube user Zeitgeist, who specifically asks him about the danger of a collapse of the Ukrainian defense even before new deliveries of tanks and armored vehicles arrive. the guesswork, unfortunately I can't do more and I say no, I don't see that. I think Ukraine has a relatively solid foundation and, unfortunately, we have to do it. That is what those who have mobilized almost 900,000 people say. men in Ukraine. These fights in Bachmund are so bad, the deaths are so bad. In my opinion, the problem will not be Ukraine's back, but I think we are already paying for it with a long newspaper. is that the Ukrainian General Staff is extremely reluctant to hand over information, even to NATO and the Bundeswehr.

Of course, they know more than me, but in general it is very difficult for us to assess what the situation really is on the Ukrainian side. The West Do your intelligence services have more information about Russia, about Ukraine and this question? Ukraine can reach a point of equilibrium at which the Ukrainian army collapses. It's incredibly difficult for us to answer. I guess Ukraine is not at the end of its life. their capabilities have a very high combat morale, they can improvise a lot, they have combat experience and the losses are not yet so high that Ukraine will lose media cohesion and collapse now, but that is, of course, the question at some point.

The last point comes, we, as stock traders, cannot foresee it anyway, but, of course, this point will come at some point in Russia, when these points are reached, whether in six months, in two years or when we can . We can't predict it and we can really only observe what happens there week after week and my argument would be that you don't have to agree to make an argument. The best thing to do is hurry up and support Ukraine. so that the Ukrainian state continues to exist in the future Maybe it is a good option now that there is an EU summit meeting in kyiv scheduled for Friday this week, what are the expectations when looking at this meeting?

Lenski speaks, at least he hopes to quote news. , so of course he is impatient and we have seen that when the decision to deliver attack dogs was announced there was a small demand, I think on the same day, for aircraft and also 35 and submarines, so of course in this situation I also heard it in the article if you are about to die go wait Ukraine, Ukraine wait maybe better wording for Western support and even more Western support. I think that this EU summit is above all a political signal, therefore a signal and that is always a perhaps also a hope to achieve peace with Ukraine.

The West will continue to support Ukraine and then support it in such a way that Putin wants to use military means against Ukraine and cannot impose the message that he will fight this war, you are one of those who cannot. To achieve this, we support Ukraine and I think that is an important signal. Appropriate actions would have to follow, that is what is happening now to the extent possible with tank deliveries and probably it will not stay with the 94, but perhaps it could talk. about fighter jets, but I think the EU is also doing something good, so to speak.

Be careful about letting people wait, always ask what is really necessary from a military point of view, what we can offer, how not to escalate the war further. and it is clear that Zelensky has the other logic of him, but the Western states also have theirs and of course they also do not want him to be directly involved in this war and in this sense he will probably continue to be disappointed in general and we will. Look at what will now be announced as an animal, so I can't imagine any really groundbreaking news on the subject of climbing.

There is also a question from the community and YouTube user radevortex, asking how far weapons deliveries should go. NATO joins because that will happen. Economy Minister Harbeck recently said that fighter jets will not be delivered, what can happen now, what about further arms deliveries to the alliance. In my opinion, the clear red line is sending troops, because sending soldiers. They become parties to the conflict under international law. It's really the red line, everything else, I would say, in English, which is, of course, the question that can be asked and I would bring a little order to the chaos.

Ukraine has an air force. of about 150 fighter aircraft and lost about 50 of them and of course the Western states will have to compensate for these losses at some point, otherwise there will no longer be a Ukrainian air force and the air war may not be decisive, but it will a role that should not be neglected, so if we want Ukraine to survive this war, then it has to. Somehow they have an air force to defend themselves, at least a small one. In my opinion, this will result in Poland and Slovakia supplying 29 fighter jets to Ukraine. at some point and they will even be destroyed or torn down at some point and that will probably be the case.

In the event that Western states can deliver F16 fighter jets but still want to keep this relatively small air force alive, something else is what In fact, demanded Selensky to build a completely new Ukrainian one, which in turn may also have an effect on Russia and, for example, on the Russians. Attack airports from which Russian fighter planes take off and, um, kyiv or other cities with long distances. transport flights, if that's what you want, is a completely different dimension and that would really be an escalation because then Ukraine has to be in a position to transport air to Russia and it can't really do that without active Western help, so I would differentiate between these two things, these deliveries of 29 will probably arrive to allow Ukraine to continue defending itself in the aerial dimension.

Let's conclude now. Let's take a look at Russia. Tomorrow is a historically significant day. The battle for former Stalingrad is being fought for the eightieth time and Russian President Putin will give a speech in what is now Volgograd. What is expected from this speech? The problem is that we can't look inside Putin's head and that's what we're doing. In fact, many predictions are wrong. We also thought that on May 9, the day of victory over National Socialist Germany, perhaps the real estate development would be announced and it was not announced on May 9. So far, the predictions for this historic anniversary have come true.

I have always been wrong, and therefore I would expect him to give a speech in the usual style, trying to draw a parallel betweenthe great war of the Second World War, the defense of the German Reich and its allies and today, who tries again against the Nazis in kieft to awaken the supposed quotes and who tries to create a parallel because he knows that back in the Second World War the peoples of the Soviet Union fought perhaps not so much for communism or the government but above all for their people for their homeland and that gave them an incredible, incredible motivation to evaluate themselves and fulfill themselves, I think their approval will simply disappear even in the long term, that is why he will always try to use history as an argument to use history as a weapon. more escalation of war or the same, so more than words, I can't imagine it.

Of course we don't know, we all have to let ourselves be surprised, but then I would draw parallels, appearance in Red Square on the 9th, then I would do something similar there, but yes, we are looking forward to this speech tomorrow, thank you for answering my questions and the community has accepted them, thank you very much.