New Delhi: In the second of our special series on the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Brigadier Ben Barry(Retd), Senior Fellow for Land Warfare, International Institute for Strategic Studies(IISS) London, Visiting Professor at the Department of War Studies, King’s College, Author,’Blood, Metal and Dust: How Victory Turned into Defeat in Afghanistan and Iraq‘ and Former Director, British Army Staff in conversation with StratNews Global Associate Editor Amitabh P. Revi.
Ben Barry discusses the IISS ‘Military Balance 2023‘ report in the context of the Russia-Ukraine war, and some of its key findings:
- “Significant losses to Russian military power, including some of its most modern equipment, particularly in its armoured fighting vehicles
- Ukraine’s artillery and armoured vehicle fleets have begun a process of transformation, thanks to Western assistance
- This is spurring the transition of East European land inventories away from Soviet-era equipment
- Poland is accelerating its military modernisation. As part of this process, South Korea has emerged as a major defence supplier in Europe
- European defence spending increased in real terms for the eighth consecutive year, although the rate of growth has slowed markedly from 3.5% in 2021 to 0.8% in 2022, again because of inflation effects”
Brig. Ben Barry also analyses President Joe Biden’s visit to Kiev and his speech in Poland as well as President Vladimir Putin’s ‘State of the Nation’ speech in which he again accuses the West of fuelling the conflict and fighting an economic war, reiterates the objective of the West is “unlimited power” and says “they started the war, and we used force in order to stop it” and “it’s Russia’s right to be strong”.
(Provigil)
