The List

In a political balancing act, the White House is working to provide advanced anti-ship missiles to Ukrainian fighters to help them break Russia’s naval blockade. This is amid concerns that providing such powerful weapons capable of sinking Russian warships would serve to intensify the war.

A Harpoon anti-ship missile makes its way towards its target. Photo credit: navy.gov.au

It’s no secret that Ukraine wants all the advanced weaponry it can get from the United States to add to its arsenal of Javelins, Stingers, and mobile field artillery. Zelensky’s wish list includes the types of missiles that could keep Russian war ships away from its Black Sea ports, thus allowing shipments of grain and other agricultural products to begin flowing to the rest of the world again. And it was a literal list that the Ukrainian President handed over. Harpoon missiles (made by Boeing) and Kongsberg and Raytheon’s Naval Strike Missiles are on it.

There is a widespread and growing international fear that the blockade by Russia’s Black Sea Fleet may lead to global famine. Anton Gerashchenko, a Ukrainian ministry of internal affairs advisor, addressed that issue recently on Twitter. He said that the “US is preparing a plan to destroy the Black Sea Fleet.” Gerashchenko continued, “Deliveries of powerful anti-ship weapons are being discussed.”  

The Big Stick Theory

Bryan Clark, a naval expert at the Hudson Institute, explains how he sees it: