The European Union decided Thursday to open accession negotiations with Ukraine, a stunning reversal for a country at war that had struggled to find the necessary backing for its membership aspirations and long faced obstinate opposition from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

European Council President Charles Michel, who was chairing a Brussels summit of the EU’s 27 leaders where the decision was made, called it “a clear signal of hope for their people and our continent.”

Although the process between opening negotiations and Ukraine finally becoming a member could take many years, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the agreement as “a victory for Ukraine. A victory for all of Europe.”

“History is made by those who don’t get tired of fighting for freedom,” Zelenskyy said.

  • @NIB
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    11 months ago

    The US doesnt even have that many ATACMS because apparently you dont need precision artillery with over 300km range if you are fighting the Taliban. So many ATACMS have expired and havent been refurbished or replaced. There havent been made any ATACMS since 2007. The ATACMS replacement just came out and has very limited availability.

    Generally the West mostly has tech from the 80s and 90s or tech made to fight insurgency/taliban type threats. Only recently it started pivoting back to new weapon development for peer or near peer conflicts. The war in Ukraine and increasing threat to Taiwan has greatly accelerated that.

    Thats why outside of the US, the second biggest army in NATO is Turkey and Greece is up there, in terms of tanks, artillery pieces and airplanes. Because those are the only 2 NATO countries that are prepared for a peer war.

    Well Greece isnt really ready for any conflict, most of that shit is falling apart but i am pretty sure that Turkey is equally incompetent.

    Turkey wants to become Great Empire again and Greece doesnt feel like sharing its stuff with Turkey. Thats how Greece ended up having as many Leopard 2 tanks as Germany.

    • @Rapidcreek
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      211 months ago

      I’ve read analysis that we really don’t have mre Bradles to give them either. But, I am a believer that they can find some.