How can Ukraine defend itself?

Ukraine’s 150,000 troops have their best chance of defending against a Russian invasion with “shoot-and-skoot” weapons provided by the US and thousands of missile launchers delivered by Britain. In some cases Ukrainian soldiers have had only a few weeks of training on the weapon systems to get ready for a conflict to save their country from occupation. Russia has all the capabilities to hit Ukraine hard with ballistic-missiles, long-range artillery and ground-attack aircraft with stand-off weapons, a war waged initially from a distance. The Ukrainian military, by comparison, will be relying more on shorter range, urban warfare systems to try and prevent the Russians from seizing cities in the Donbass region and elsewhere in the country. It would be an unequal fight. But the thousands of anti-tank missiles now in their hands courtesy of the US and Britain could make the difference between a rapid victory by Russian forces and a much longer-term campaign in which both sides would suffer thousands of casualties. The key weapon is the American Javelin anti-tank missile because it’s simple to operate and once fired the guided rocket will home in on the target by its own. It’s a fire-and-forget weapon or “shoot-and-skoot”, allowing the soldier to press the trigger and then seek immediate cover to avoid the counter-strike. Javelin which has a maximum range of 1.5 miles was used in Afghanistan and Iraq in more than 5,000 combat engagements. The weapon provided by Britain, the NLAW anti-tank system, is much shorter range, effective between 20 and 800 metres (65ft and 2624ft), but can be fired from inside buildings and can target tanks or armoured vehicles from close quarters. The missile can cover 400 metres (1,312ft) in under two seconds. If a Russian invasion spreads throughout Ukraine, it is expected that the ensuing conflict will be largely focused on high-intensity combat operations in an urban environment. The Javelin and NLAW weapons would play a crucial role in countering Russia’s heaviest and most advanced tanks. The Russian armoured vehicles could include the BMPT-72 “Terminator” armoured fighting vehicle which only came into service last year. Social media videos have shown the huge vehicles being transported by rail to the Ukraine border. It is armed with guided missiles, a cannon, a machinegun and automatic grenade launchers, and is suitable for backing up tanks in close-range urban warfare. The Ukrainian military also have the combat-proven Bayraktar TB2 armed drone supplied by Turkey, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles sent by Latvia and Lithuania, Saxon armoured vehicles from Britain and sniper rifles, night vision and radio equipment and tons of ammunition from the US.