Closing the Skies, Liberating Ukraine - Helsinki Commission Congressional Hearing

This Helsinki Commission Hearing examines how, to enable Ukrainian progress in the near- to medium-term, Western military aid must be purposeful and tied to a concrete and actionable theory of Ukrainian victory. The hearing features key experts on Ukraine and its defensive needs, ongoing battlefield dynamics, and policy recommendations to inform the development of future military aid packages.

Long range munitions can destroy key russian offensive capabilities and disrupt its sustainment infrastructure; multi-layered air defense can protect Ukrainian cities and deny russia the air dominance their forces depend upon; and targeted Ukrainian attacks against russian military targets in occupied Ukraine, and in russia itself, can help degrade the russian war economy and boost Ukrainian morale.

With a military unable to compete with Ukrainian defenders on equal footing on the battlefield, russian forces have resorted to employing overwhelming mass of men and materiel, sustained in large part with munitions, drones, and technological inputs from Iran, North Korea, and China. To counteract these russian advantages, Western aid should not only allow Ukrainian forces to hold the line, but to degrade and destroy fixed russian positions, enable offensive operations, and effect general exhaustion and collapse among russian units.

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