Military expert warns of “Russian terror triangle” – and sees “shame” for Europe

Austrian military expert Markus Reisner is critical of the United States' dwindling support for Ukraine. “It is very thought-provoking when the most powerful power in the world, namely the USA, suddenly abandons the Ukrainians because they have other interests and therefore do not give the Ukrainians the opportunity to defend themselves and essentially hand them over to the Russians,” complained the colonel in an interview on WELT TV. “The sad thing is, of course, that Europe is hardly in a position to compensate for this.”

After almost five years of war, this was a “disgrace,” said Reisner. So far, the USA has delivered Patriot missiles for anti-aircraft defense to the invaded state. However, this has “decreased massively”. The Europeans have a similar system, the SAMP/T air defense system, but the production rate has not increased significantly in recent years. “If you had done that, you could now at least compensate here,” criticized the military historian.

The European capability for reconnaissance activities is also “nowhere near” as developed as in the United States. In the past few days, Ukraine had reported that satellite support from the space company SpaceX's Starlink, which the Ukrainian military uses to remotely control drones, had been throttled. Elon Musk had declared US President Donald Trump to be responsible.

The throttling was lifted after just over a day, according to reports from Ukraine on Thursday. The fast movement functionality of the Starlink military package - Starshield - has been restored, several Ukrainian media reported, citing sources in the Defense Ministry.

On WELT TV, Reisner emphasized the importance of Starlink for the Ukrainians to defend themselves against Russian air strikes. In the past 48 hours, communication was only possible to a limited extent. Former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said that the satellite network “is basically the blood in the veins of the Ukrainian armed forces,” the colonel said. “Without Starlink, nothing works here.”

Europe is technologically capable of replacing Starlink, but there is a lack of political will, complained Reisner. In addition, the continent is confronted with a previously unknown quality of war. “In principle, we have the so-called triangle of terror that Russia is using here,” the historian explained. "We have fast-flying, jet-powered drones. We have hard-to-detect cruise missiles. And we have hard-to-intercept ballistic missiles." It is necessary to “finally assess the situation really seriously”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky feels betrayed by the diesel deal that Trump signed with Vladimir Putin, as he admitted to British presenter Piers Morgan on Wednesday. For Reisner, the process was foreseeable. Based on some disputes, it became clear early on that Trump and Zelensky would not get along.

"Trump is doing it like this: On the one hand, he is putting pressure on the Russians by supporting Ukraine with targeting data - until now. And on the other hand, by not giving Ukraine the Patriot missiles it needs, for example, to defend itself against Russian attacks," explained Reisner. The Americans wanted to force both sides to agree to a ceasefire or at least to negotiate peace.

The party that was the first to run out of resources would have to give in. “And if the relationship between Zelenskyj and Trump doesn’t improve now,” warned Reisner, “then it could be Ukraine.”