August 17, 2024: NATO has established a separate support command in Germany to coordinate training of Ukrainian forces as well as receipt, storage and distribution of weapons and equipment donated by NATO nations for use in Ukraine. This operation is staffed by 700 NATO country personnel.

Among the current activities of this new support command is coordinating the delivery of F-16 fighters to Ukraine along with training for Ukrainian pilots and aircraft maintainers. The support command will oversee continued logistical support for the F-16s as well as continued supplies of aircraft munitions and spare parts.

Ukraine is the first war that NATO has been involved in since NATO was founded in 1949. The continued fighting in Ukraine has forced NATO nations to confront the formerly potential but now actual threat from Russia. Poland, Slovakia and Romania are NATO countries that border Ukraine. For these frontline countries that Russian threat is real and often visible. Russia does not want to fight NATO because NATO forces are more numerous, better armed and supplied. NATO nations can mobilize nearly three times as many military personnel as Russia and four times as many combat aircraft and five times as many armored vehicles. The combined GDP of NATO nations is six times that of Russia and nearly half the GDP of all nations on the planet. Naval forces of NATO nations are seven times that of Russia NATO nations are increasing the percentage of their GDP devoted to defense. Currently the NATO goal is two percent of GDP. Most of the 32 NATO members are at that level and more of them are increasing that to three percent. The United States alone accounts for over a quarter of the world’s GDP.

Russia now realizes that the continued NATO support for Ukraine is more than Russia can handle and that NATO nations can sustain this war effort longer than heavily sanctioned Russia can. Worse, NATO military trainers are increasingly training Ukrainian soldiers to use the NATO supplied weapons and fight more effectively. That means Ukrainian troops have better weapons than their Russian counterparts and are far better trained to handle combat. Many of the Russian soldiers recently mobilized for the war have only a few weeks of training, if that. New Ukrainian recruits receive several months of training and existing Ukrainian soldiers are being given refresher training. Ukrainian officers and NCOs are also receiving more training. Russia has lost most of its pre 2022 officers and NCOs and has been unable to provide trained replacements for these lost combat leaders.

Russia is on its own in Ukraine. China will sell Russia equipment but not weapons. Only North Korea and Iran will do that and they expect payment on or before delivery. Russia is finding it increasingly difficult to recruit more troops, much less equip and train them. New Russian recruits have been seen in combat wearing older, Cold War era uniforms and equipped with similarly antique weapons. Russia has long put older equipment into storage when new items became available. This is something Russia has done since before World War II. Now, for the first time since the 1940s, the reserves of older weapons and equipment are being distributed to new recruits. Russia is running out of soldiers as well as weapons and equipment. The war in Ukraine has become an endurance contest and the Ukrainians have the edge. Russian leader Vladimir Putin insists that he can persist and eventually prevail even though he obviously has neither the troops or weapons, munitions, and equipment for the task.