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From the SitRoom to the E-Ring, the inside scoop on defense, national security and foreign policy. | | | | |  | | By Lee Hudson, Paul McLeary and Alexander Ward | | 
The shipments indicate that Washington and Kyiv expect hard fighting on the ground in the coming weeks — and not just the artillery tit-for-tat the world has witnessed for weeks. | Efrem Lukatsky/AP Photo | With help from Lawrence Ukenye, Nahal Toosi and Daniel Lippman Subscribe here | Email Alex The Biden administration Friday announced it will send new weapons to Ukraine as part of a $775 million package, including new drones, armored vehicles and artillery. The shipments indicate that Washington and Kyiv expect hard fighting on the ground in the coming weeks — and not just the artillery tit-for-tat the world has witnessed for weeks. For the first time, the U.S. is sending 15 ScanEagle surveillance drones to help the Ukrainians spot and correct the precision artillery and rocket strikes that have taken a toll on Russian forces, stalling their progress. The small drones can be moved around the battlefield relatively easily and would be invaluable in the expected push to retake the city of Kherson in the south. Other items included in the tranche suggest preparations are underway for Ukrainian ground troops to make that push in the south, where fighting has been at a stalemate for weeks as the war has settled into one long, punishing artillery duel. "Right now, I would say that we are seeing a complete and total lack of progress by the Russians on the battlefield,” a senior Defense Department official, who insisted on anonymity to speak about the war effort, told reporters Friday. “In that sense, we are at a different phase than we were even a couple of months ago" when Russian forces were gaining ground in the Donbas and in the south. The equipment being sent for the first time includes 40 heavily armored MaxxPro mine-resistant vehicles, originally developed for U.S. forces in Iraq during the height of the fighting there when roadside bombs were taking a heavy toll on U.S. forces. In Ukraine, they will clear roads and fields before ground troops push forward, creating paths through dense minefields laid by the Russians. Also new are TOW guided anti-tank missile systems, sixteen 105mm howitzers and 36,000 rounds, plus 2,000 rounds for the Carl Gustaf recoilless rifle, a small anti-armor weapon used by U.S. special operations forces. The Carl Gustaf, which can be carried easily and is designed to work in close quarters with an enemy, is an indication that the Ukrainians expect close-in fighting in the coming weeks. It’s unclear whether the equipment will be delivered ahead of that long-telegraphed counteroffensive, though the delay in its launch has some wondering if it’ll ever happen. The U.S. is also sending more fighter-launched High-speed Anti-Radiation Missiles that have targeted Russian radar systems, a key capability in disrupting the Russian’s ability to detect new Ukrainian movements, and command and control their own forces. Ahead of the DoD announcement on Friday, a person familiar with deliberations told POLITICO that the U.S. is also planning to send Excalibur precision-guided artillery munitions in an upcoming tranche at some point in the future. Those weapons were not included in this round. The rounds would give the Ukrainians a new precision weapons with which to target dug-in Russian positions and command posts. Read your host’s full story with LEE HUDSON and PAUL McLEARY.
| | | UKRAINE AIMS TO FREE CRIMEA: One of Ukraine’s top national security officials acknowledged that taking back Crimea is in Kyiv’s war plans. “The official, OLEKSIY DANILOV, the head of Ukraine’s national security council, said that Crimea was a sovereign territory of Ukraine and that there was an ongoing effort to liberate it. It was the highest-level acknowledgment that strikes in Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, were part of a Ukrainian campaign,” The New York Times’ MARC SANTORA reported. Danilov didn’t confirm that Ukraine was behind the recent strikes on the Russian-annexed peninsula, though a parade of top officials in Kyiv keep hinting at their involvement. “Top Ukrainian military commanders have said that their counteroffensive to reclaim lost territory would not look like the Russian offensive, which has relied on heavy artillery fire to tear a path of devastation to grind out slow and bloody gains,” Santora added. RUSSIA’S SPIES MISLED KREMLIN: The Washington Post has another Ukraine/Russia banger, this one going deep into how Russia’s intelligence service failed to anticipate Kyiv’s stiff resistance and properly inform leaders in the Kremlin about intelligence that countered the swift-takeover narrative. The FSB “failed to incapacitate Ukraine’s government, foment any semblance of a pro-Russian groundswell or interrupt President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY’s hold on power. Its analysts either did not fathom how forcefully Ukraine would respond, Ukrainian and Western officials said, or did understand but couldn’t or wouldn’t convey such sober assessments to Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN,” GREG MILLER and CATHERINE BELTON reported. “There was plenty of wishful thinking in the GRU and the military, but it started with the FSB,” a senior Western security official told them. “The sense that there would be flowers strewn in their path — that was an FSB exercise.” Reading the story, your host kept thinking back to the run-up to the Iraq War. Different, yes, but there are parallels. UKRAINE’S SOUTHERN STRATEGY: “This is what Ukraine’s offensive to retake occupied territory in the south of the country looks like: not a dramatic ground assault, but a series of artillery strikes designed to cut Russian supply lines and isolate Russian troops in the region,” The Wall Street Journal’s IAN LOVETT reported from the Kherson region. That strategy has turned the steady barrage of Russian shells into a trickle. “There’s about half as much incoming as three or four weeks ago,” YEVHEN, a Ukrainian infantry squad commander, told the WSJ. Here’s why, per Lovett: “Russian troops west of the rivers are now being resupplied by ferries and pontoon bridges, military analysts say, and keeping them supplied is already a challenge. Ammunition depots are being moved further away, out of artillery range, meaning supply trucks now run longer routes than they were designed for.” IT’S FRIDAY. WELCOME TO THE WEEKEND: Thanks for tuning in to NatSec Daily. This space is reserved for the top U.S. and foreign officials, the lawmakers, the lobbyists, the experts and the people like you who care about how the natsec sausage gets made. Aim your tips and comments at award@politico.com, and follow me on Twitter at @alexbward. While you’re at it, follow the rest of POLITICO’s national security team: @nahaltoosi, @woodruffbets, @politicoryan, @PhelimKine, @ChristopherJM, @BryanDBender, @laraseligman, @connorobrienNH, @paulmcleary, @leehudson, @AndrewDesiderio and @magmill95 — plus our summer interns, @Lawrence_Ukenye and @nicolle_liu.
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Lockheed Martin employees and customers are bound by a common cause. Ennobled by our shared patriotism, we will do all that is necessary to protect American and allied interests. Together, we will strengthen deterrence and help ensure mission readiness today. Learn more. | | | | | | NUCLEAR PLANT TENSIONS: Ukraine alleges Russia wants to disconnect Ukraine from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant as fighting near the site continues to fuel international concern of a disaster, NBC News’ HYDER ABASSI reported. The allegations come a day after Russia instructed workers at the facility not to come in for work. Disconnecting power from the plant would deny Ukraine an energy source as both sides have continued to trade blame about which forces are inflaming tensions around the facility. Kyiv on Friday released a statement claiming that there is a high probability for a "major act of terror" near the nuclear plant. French President EMMANUEL MACRON spoke to Putin about the dangers at the plant, and came away from the call hearing that Russia planned to pull the facility from Ukraine’s power grid.
| | | WHY CAN’T WE BE FRIENDS?: China’s cyber watchdog wants to build stronger relationships with Chinese internet companies and the government, hoping such ties turn “affectionate,” a senior official told reporters Friday. NIU YIBING, vice minister of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), said his agency’s goal is to create a "healthy, get-to-the-top, can-do entrepreneurial atmosphere” in the country, Reuters’ MARTIN QUIN POLLARD and EDUARDO BAPTISTA reported. CAC was one of the agencies that cracked down on Chinese technology companies in 2020. Now the tune has changed as large firms like Tencent and Alibaba cut investments and fire thousands of employees, per Reuters.
| | | NAVY SPEED CONCERNS: The Navy wants to field ships and weapons faster by adjusting the process of acquisition to when a capability is fielded, Defense News’s MEGAN ECKSTEIN reported. Commander of Naval Forces Vice Adm. ROY KITCHENER proposed eliminating the post-shakedown process — a process to repair anything damaged during trials — for the incoming Constellation-class frigate. The efforts come as lawmakers have expressed fear America's ability to build and field ships is lagging behind China, which now fields the world's largest navy, according to a 2021 Pentagon report.
| | | REPUBLICANS SLAM IRAN NEGOTIATIONS: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s top Republican, Sen. JIM RISCH (R-Idaho), took to Twitter to slam the Biden administration's efforts to restore the Iran nuclear deal. "These demands from #Iran are blackmail and would go down in history as a major Biden foreign policy failure, coming on the heels of the disastrous #Afghanistan withdrawal," Risch wrote. "Not to mention this deal will threaten the safety of our partners and Americans in the region." The National Security Council responded by quote-tweeting Risch's statements, claiming the U.S. would never accept such terms. "Nothing here is true," the NSC wrote. "We would never accept such terms. We also would not have left a deal that was working only to see Iran massively accelerate its nuclear program. Rumors swirl that the parties to the 2015 deal will announce its revival soon. After that, the Biden administration will bring the “deal to save the deal” to Congress for a review, though it’s unlikely the whole body can stop it from happening, especially with Democrats in charge of the House and unlikely enough naysayers in the Senate to override a Biden veto of a resolution of disapproval.
| | | SHUT YOUR MOUTH: KIM YO JONG, the sister of North Korean leader KIM JONG UN delivered a scathing rebuke of South Korean President YOON SUK YEOL 's plan to offer the isolated kingdom aid in exchange for nuclear disarmament, Reuters reported. "It would have been more favourable for his image to shut his mouth, rather than talking nonsense as he had nothing better to say," she said in a statement to state-run media. Yoon's plan involves engaging in economic cooperation to pursue efforts like improving power generation, creating trade routes and building hospitals, all in hopes that North Korea will abandon its nuclear ambitions. The harsh blowback comes amid increased missile tests by North Korea and upcoming joint military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea. The State Department has no plans of pursuing diplomatic relations with South Korea, departing from Trump’s approach of meeting face-to-face with the North Korean leader.
| | | — FIRST IN NATSEC DAILY: PAULA GARCIA TUFRO will be starting in mid-September as senior director for development, global health and humanitarian response at the National Security Council, a White House official told DANIEL LIPPMAN. She currently is the chief of staff at the Millennium Challenge Corporation and has worked in international development, trade and investment in both the public and private sectors for almost two decades.
| | | |   | | | | | | — RYAN HEATH and ELLA CREAMER, POLITICO: “ What Washington thinks about the next Queen Liz ” — MEGAN STACK, The New York Times: “ The West Is Kidding Itself About Women’s Freedom in Saudi Arabia ” — The Economist: “ Armies are re-learning how to fight in cities ”
| | | — The Center for Strategic and International Studies, 9:30 a.m.: "The Military Dimensions of the Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis" — The Hudson Institute, 12 p.m.: "Asia’s New Leaders and the Free and Open Indo-Pacific" — The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 4 p.m.: "Getting China Wrong." Have a natsec-centric event coming up? Transitioning to a new defense-adjacent or foreign policy-focused gig? Shoot me an email at award@politico.com to be featured in the next edition of the newsletter. And thanks to my editor, Ben Pauker, who also thinks it would be favorable for me to shut my mouth.
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Lockheed Martin is helping you outpace evolving threats by accelerating our digital transformation. That means simulating wear-and-tear with digital twins so you can anticipate maintenance and reduce downtime. It means deep knowledge of your missions. It means industry-wide experience and next-gen technologies. We do it all to help you prevent and deter emerging threats sooner and faster than ever. Learn more. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
