{"id":58904,"date":"2022-02-24T20:16:33","date_gmt":"2022-02-24T20:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/02\/24\/we-need-as-much-stinger-and-anti-tank-weapons-as-possible-says-ukraines-defense-minister\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:24:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:24:05","slug":"we-need-as-much-stinger-and-anti-tank-weapons-as-possible-says-ukraines-defense-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/2022\/02\/24\/we-need-as-much-stinger-and-anti-tank-weapons-as-possible-says-ukraines-defense-minister\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We need as much Stinger and anti-tank weapons as possible,\u2019 says Ukraine\u2019s defense minister"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2015 Ukraine\u2019s defense minister made a direct plea to the U.S. Congress on Thursday to send his besieged nation anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles through Poland to help it repel Russia\u2019s military assault on Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defense Minister Alexey Reznikov<\/a>, in a video<\/a> dated Thursday and posted to YouTube by Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., said Ukrainian forces are protecting Europe and would fight for their own country but need support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need as much Stinger [anti-aircraft] and anti-tank weapons as possible,\u201d Reznikov said, seated at a conference table with a Ukrainian flag behind him. \u201cIn order to provide for reliable procurement of equipment, you may deliver it to Poland. From there we will transport them across the land and quickly saturate our defense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reznikov\u2019s video surfaced hours after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, unleashing airstrikes on cities and military bases and sending troops and tanks from multiple directions in a move that could rewrite the world\u2019s geopolitical landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reznikov cast the fight between democratic Ukraine and authoritarian Russia as \u201ccombat between light and darkness,\u201d and said Ukraine\u2019s geographic borders had become \u201cthe borders between freedom and slavery, democracy and tyranny.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ukraine\u2019s government has pleaded for help as civilians piled into trains and cars to flee. Ukrainian officials said their forces were battling Russians on multiple fronts, and had lost control of the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the scene of the world\u2019s worst nuclear disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who earlier cut diplomatic ties with Moscow and declared martial law, described Russian forces advancing on a series fronts, including a \u201cdifficult situation\u201d developing in Kharkiv, Ukraine\u2019s second-largest city, just over 20 kilometers away from the eastern border with Russia, and Russian troops slowly advancing from the north on the city of Chernihiv.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said a Russian airborne unit at an airport just outside Kyiv, the capital, was being destroyed. He also appealed to global leaders, saying that \u201cif you don\u2019t help us now, if you fail to offer a powerful assistance to Ukraine, tomorrow the war will knock on your door.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. officials had sought to deter a Russia invasion with diplomacy, economic sanctions and warnings that Ukraine\u2019s forces would be tougher than in 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea. Since 2014, the U.S. has committed more than $2.7 billion in security assistance to build the capacity of Ukraine\u2019s forces, including more than $650 million in 2021 alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\t