cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/2464361

At the recent GLOBSEC 2024 Forum in Prague, political leaders from the Baltic Sea states unleashed a barrage of criticism against the U.S. government’s handling of its Ukraine war strategy. The most revealing statement came from the Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.

“I am sorry that the deliveries of F-16s took so long. Personally, I was ready to hand them over to Ukraine from the very beginning of the war. However, there was a long debate about the correctness of this decision,” Frederiksen revealed.

"If we allow Russia to take 20% of Ukraine, [do you believe] Russia will say thank you? My guess is that they will say thank you and move on in Ukraine or other countries, including NATO countries. There is no alternative to Ukraine winning this war,” Frederiksen said. She also added, that “as Europeans, no matter what happens in the US, we should be able to do more on our own” and that “A Europe that is not willing to defend itself is not a Europe.”

This aligns with Estonia’s Hanno Pevkur, who framed the issue as one of strategic clarity. ‘The question for us is straightforward: Do we want Ukraine to fight, or do we want Ukraine to win? We want Ukraine to win, not just to fight,’ Pevkur stated.

These sentiments capture a growing divide between the U.S. and some of its European allies, who feel that Washington’s reluctance to escalate its involvement is prolonging the war and risking Ukrainian lives.

[…]

The frustration expressed by Baltic and Danish leaders is amplified by recent revelations […] that the Biden administration had rejected a proposal to send American contractors to Ukraine to maintain Western military equipment, including the crucial F-16s. [as] the U.S. National Security Council had considered the deployment of specialists but ultimately declined, deeming it too risky.

[…]

Previously, critics in the U.S., such as retired general and former commanding officer of the U.S. Army Europe Ben Hodges have criticized the U.S. procrastination with training Ukrainian pilots for the F16-s. “It is absurd how long it is taking us to get Ukrainian pilots trained in the F-16s. That is embarrassing to me, how long it has taken,” Hodges lamented in a recent interview to The Baltic Sentinel.