Ukraine War Update NEWS: Military Aid News - AI, RCH 155, Drone Training

"This is how Putin demonstrates his readiness for peace talks."

Hello Team

🎦 00:00-00:10⏩
Jonathan Pearce introduces part two of his Ukraine War Update for the 13th January 2025. This video focuses on military aid.

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Lithuania to send 4,500 drones to Ukraine

🎦 00:10-01:01⏩
Lithuania is sending 4,500 drones to Ukraine this week valued at $5.1 million. Jonathan previously reported on this in his hits and losses video but confirms their arrival in Ukraine. He praises Lithuania's ongoing support of Ukraine since the beginning of the war.

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Lithuanian Drone specifications

🎦 01:01-01:24⏩
The Lithuanian drones are large and take off vertically. They are resistant to electronic warfare and have a range of 480km. They have a maximum speed of 90kph and a flight time of 10 hours, flying up to 6,100 metres. The drones are equipped with electro optical and mid wave infrared cameras. Jonathan believes these will be very useful to the Ukrainians.

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Discussion about NATO funding and Defence spending

🎦 01:24-07:34⏩
Jonathan reads and responds to a comment from Amadeus about NATO funding and defence spending. Amadeus believes that the focus should be on what defence spending is spent on and not the amount. He cites Perun's video about Canada's defence spending and says that Finland have always managed to maintain a high level of defence readiness despite spending less than 2% of GDP on defence - often below 1.5%. Jonathan agrees that defence spending comparisons are not always accurate and that it's not an equal comparison. The US, for example, includes healthcare costs for its armed forces, veterans and their families because they have a privatised healthcare system. This is approximately 6-7% of their defence budget. Countries with a nationalised health service do not include this, which skews the figures. Amadeus uses the UK as an example, saying that despite spending above the 2% target, it equates to 13.6m trained personnel compared to Finland's 3.4m - 5% of the UK population. He believes that spending 1% wisely is more effective than spending 5% on equipment. Jonathan points out that the UK is one of two nuclear deterrent forces in Europe (along with France) which other countries piggyback on. Nuclear deterrents are extremely expensive. He says that nuclear spending, along with pensions, makes up a huge amount of the defence budget. Jonathan agrees that Amadeus has a point, and that both personnel and equipment are important. A large, well trained army is useless if they have no way to get to where they need to be or are outgunned by the enemy. Equally, a carrier strike group would be ineffective without trained personnel. Jonathan sums up by saying that these things are complicated and that it is difficult to make comparisons between countries. Amadeus' final point is that European countries should focus on producing 80% of their defence equipment and reduce their reliance on the US. He uses the example that the US alone is struggling to supply enough equipment to Ukraine in their fight against Russia, and that should China attack any NATO country it would be a very short war. He believes that in the event of a nuclear war, nothing else matters. Jonathan agrees with Amadeus' point about the US struggling to supply Ukraine. He agrees that a combined approach is needed.

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EU arms manufacturers push for Military Schengen to speed up equipment repairs

🎦 07:34-08:00⏩
Jonathan reports that EU arms manufacturers are pushing for a military Schengen zone because of the long wait for weapons repairs. Two-thirds of German-supplied Panzerhaubitze 2000 howitzers are out of action awaiting repair due to bureaucratic hurdles.

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Panzerhaubitze 2000 Howitzers

🎦 08:00-09:44⏩
Jonathan shows a video of a Panzerhaubitze 2000 firing four shots in 29 seconds and comments on how incredible it is. He then discusses Germany to Ukraine's clarification on Twitter about the RCH-155 howitzers supplied to Ukraine. They were initially thought to have been delivered to Ukraine, but Germany to Ukraine confirmed that whilst they have been handed over, they are still in Germany and are being used to train the Ukrainians. Jonathan says this makes sense, as there's no point sending them if the Ukrainians don't know how to use them.

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Ukraine to focus on reinforcing existing brigades

🎦 09:44-10:47⏩
Jonathan reports that President Zelensky has ordered the suspension of the creation of new brigades in Ukraine following a report about the 155th Brigade. Reinforcements will be sent to combat-ready units instead. Yuri Butasov - the journalist who broke the story about the French-trained "Anab-Kyiv" brigade facing difficulties - is the source. There was much controversy after reports emerged that the brigade was not fully equipped and lacked drones, and that personnel had deserted or been redeployed. Butasov later clarified that the brigade was operating in the Kharkiv region. Jonathan believes that this demonstrates that Ukraine is reacting and adapting to events on the ground, and that sending reinforcements to existing brigades is good news.

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Calls for Ukraine to lower the conscription age

🎦 10:47-12:11⏩
US National Security Advisor Mike Walsh has suggested that Ukraine should lower the conscription age to 18. Jonathan says that other Americans have made similar suggestions. Walsh believes that Ukraine is facing manpower issues, and that they should lower the conscription age if they are asking the world to go all in for democracy. Jonathan disagrees slightly, pointing out that whilst Ukraine is asking for support, they are not asking the world to "go all in" and are not requesting foreign troops - if they were it would be a very different situation. He acknowledges the pressure on Ukraine to lower the conscription age and says that there are arguments for and against, and that he understands both sides. Although he believes they should lower the age, he understands why they haven't given the low numbers in the 18-25 cohort.

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Ukraine expands drone training

🎦 12:11-12:29⏩
Jonathan reports that the 3rd Assault brigade has expanded FPV drone training across Ukraine. They are now training civilians as well as soldiers anywhere, any time with a new mobile FPV school. A new school has also opened in Lviv. Jonathan believes that Ukraine will become world leaders in drone warfare.

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Slovakia to train 1,000 drone operators

🎦 12:29-12:51⏩
The Slovakian army is to train 1,000 drone operators based on lessons learned from the war in Ukraine. Initially they plan to use off the shelf commercially available drones, with a view to using strike drones at a later date. Training is due to begin this year.

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Slovakia invests in electronic warfare systems

🎦 12:51-12:53⏩
Jonathan reports that Slovakia is also investing in electronic warfare systems.

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Poland will not send peacekeepers to Ukraine

🎦 12:53-13:29⏩
Poland's Defence Minister, Vladislav Kuzniak-Kamysh, has ruled out sending peacekeepers to Ukraine. He believes that countries who are not neighbours of Ukraine should take on this role. Jonathan says this is interesting, as Ukraine is insisting on security guarantees as part of any peace agreement - something that the US and NATO have already ruled out. He suggests that the UK and France might consider it, but other countries such as Poland may be reluctant due to their proximity to Russia.

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Security guarantees for Ukraine

🎦 13:29-14:16⏩
Jonathan believes that the issue of security guarantees for Ukraine is important and that Ukraine is right to insist on this as part of any peace deal. Ukraine will not agree to a ceasefire unless there are measures in place to deter Russia from attacking again. Jonathan is sceptical of the US' ability to resolve this quickly, especially given previous statements by Trump that the war would be over quickly. He reminds viewers that Trump's prediction that he would be able to end the war in a day - even before his inauguration - were lies.

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AI and its impact on the battlefield

🎦 14:16-16:59⏩
Jonathan discusses a report by the UK MOD which concludes that AI will be a dominant factor in the global economy and national security by 2029. He highlights the UK government's response which pledged to increase sovereign computing power by 20 times by 2030 in order to keep pace. Jonathan believes that AI is going to be at the forefront of all technology going forward and that countries need to be at the forefront of this technology in order to remain competitive. Failure to do so will result in others, such as China and Russia, gaining a technological advantage.

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Russia adapts Su-34 fighter to carry Kinzhal missiles

🎦 16:59-17:32⏩
Anton Gerashenko has reported that Russia has successfully launched a Kinzhal hypersonic missile from a Sukhoi Su-34 fighter bomber for the first time. The Kinzhal (Dagger) missile system was previously only compatible with the MiG-31K. Russia has 5-6 times more Su-34's in its fleet compared to the MiG-31K. Jonathan believes that this was inevitable and that Russia is adapting to the situation in Ukraine.

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Wrap up

🎦 17:32-17:37⏩
Jonathan thanks viewers for watching and asks them to like, subscribe and share the video.

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