A ground crew unloads weapons and other military hardware delivered by the United States military at Boryspil Airport near Kyiv on January 25, 2022, in Boryspil, Ukraine. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Instead of equipping Ukraine to fight Russia like NATO would—with long-range artillery, air power, and area air defense—the United States and its allies have sent short-range missiles, artillery, and small drones. Hudson Senior Fellows Bryan Clark and Peter Rough argue in Foreign Policy that the West’s strategy prolongs the war and allows a Russian blockade that traps about 25 million tons of grain in Ukrainian silos, risking a global economic and humanitarian disaster.

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Key Insights

1. Russia’s Blockade Has Consequences for America and the World

Russia’s war and naval blockade is a major reason why 40 million more people are projected to be acutely food insecure this year compared to 2020. Price shocks for food staples have a long history of setting off coups, revolutions, and civil wars, and the prospect of malnutrition and starvation will likely spur mass migration at a time when Europe is already straining to host millions of war refugees. But Washington and its NATO partners are unwilling to take the one concrete step that would liberate Ukrainian exports, prevent disaster in the developing world, and shield Europe from potentially vast fallout: break the Russian Black Sea blockade.

2. Ukraine Can End the Blockade with the Right Weapons

Last week, Ukrainian troops used Western-provided artillery to push the Russians off Snake Island, where Ukraine could now place Neptune or Danish-supplied Harpoon anti-ship missiles to threaten the Black Sea Fleet. But even with Snake Island, Ukraine’s missiles could only cover the first third of a grain-carrying ship’s journey from Odesa to the Bosporus. Ukraine will need weapons with longer reach to protect its shipping from the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s two dozen frigates, corvettes, and Kilo-class submarines.

3. Give Ukraine Gray Eagles

As part of its $40 billion aid package, the Biden administration announced it would give Ukraine four MQ-1C Gray Eagle unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which could break Russia’s blockade. These unmanned fixed-wing aircraft—about twice the size of Ukraine’s Bayraktar TB2 drones and armed with powerful Hellfire missiles or GPS-guided bombs—could escort ships between the Port of Odesa and the Bosporus. Since the original announcement, the Biden administration has unfortunately blocked the sale of Gray Eagles to Ukraine.

Quotes may be edited for clarity and length. 

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