US has to watch out for China, so it cannot give Ukraine everything it asks for – Colonel Grant

Glen Grant, a retired British Army colonel and military expert, shared his opinions with Espreso TV.

"Regarding the provision of weapons like ATACMS, I believe that Ukraine is not to blame for the fact that these systems have not yet been provided. It all depends on the United States, because ATACMS is a key weapon system. The US has to keep an eye on Taiwan and China, so it cannot afford to give Ukraine everything it requests. Eventually, they may give something that will be extremely important for Ukraine, but I suspect they are trying to hold on to such systems in case they need them," he said.

Colonel Grant added that F-16s are a different matter.

"The Americans don't need their F-16s, because they have a lot of them in their inventory. So I'm deeply surprised and disappointed by their attitude towards providing these fighter jets to Ukraine. Obviously, there are some logistical problems, the Ukrainian system is not adapted to manage a complex weapon like the F-16, but on the other hand, similar narratives were hovering around the Patriot systems, which Ukraine mastered quite quickly and well. Therefore, I believe that countries that have F-16s should take the risk and give them to Ukraine, and then decide how to keep them in the air," the colonel said.

The expert added that Ukraine needs not only powerful systems such as ATACMS and F-16s, but also many more small infantry systems that will really help.

"Because in the end, ATACMS will not hold the territory. F-16s will not win territory. The only one who can win territory is infantry, ordinary people who are fighting, and it would be much better if they had more night sights, more mortars, mortar ammunition, more equipment in general, more small drones, because then they will drive out the occupiers much faster than they are doing now. So, we need to focus on infantry, infantry equipment, and demining equipment. These are the things that we should be focusing more resources on at the front line, not just things that are costly," Grant summarized.