The True Cost Of Arming Ukraine To Fight The Russian Invasion | True Cost 

I think a good comparison missing from this video is how much it costs to build a Russian tank vs. how much these anti-tank weapons cost. The weaponry is undoubtedly much cheaper. 1 man with 1 missile can defeat a tank crewed by 3 or more.

The U.K. sent anti tank weapons before the Russian invasion. They have been training Ukrainian troops since 2014.

None of these weapons are as costly as their freedom. That is why they still want to fight back. Freedom is the cost of this war. Слава Україні 💛💙

It always surprises me how much money can be poured into arming a country with loads of weapons in lightspeed time. Thus far I’ve never in my life seen any country pouring money to build universities, schools or libraries with so much haste and generosity.

One thing I find missing in these discussion during the talks about numbers is the systems around it. Systems that keep soldiers with food, fuel and ammunition. The ongoing talks is just about this when showing the Russians most crucial problems in Ukraine. A war is a very complicated task to manoeuvre, and the most of it is not about numbers of tanks and soldiers etc.

Until machine guns were developed, riflemen and cavalry and bayonet charges was how land warfare was fought. Until naval aviation, submarines and torpedoes were improved, the battleships ruled the oceans. Today's long-range, accurate, effective, man-portable missile launchers are doing the same to armour, helicopters, and low-flying aircraft. War is hell for everybody. It's extra hellish for the soldiers on the wrong side of a paradigm shift.

By looking at the modern military equipment and it’s development over the years, we can truly agree to what Albert Einstein said "World War IV would be fought with sticks and stones."

Thanks from New Zealand to all these generous nations helping Ukraine. Life and Democracy needs defended. God bless Ukraine and world democracy.

Think it was missed that the UK was helping Ukraine long before the war begun. We had already supplied them with millions of pounds worth of weapons and training how to defend themselves in case of attack.

I'm pretty sure Germanys decision to allow sending weapons to the Ukraine also enabled other countries to do so, if they wanted to ship german weapons

"WAR is good for business" - Weapon manufacturing companies

I don't think people understand that he's not just going after those that Ukraine but he will go after Poland and England and whoever else is in the way. It's not just one country you need to see the bigger picture

"On feb 27, 5 countries decided to send millions worth of equipment including 5000 antitank weapons" Well to be fair all of those 5000 were from one country. Sweden. (who just sent 5000 more)

they gave ukraine the soviet era weapons for a very good reason, Ukraine wont have to train it's soldiers with the soviet era weapons so they could be used from the moment they got there. also Ukraine asked for these soviet era weapons themselves.

Glad to see the best clip you could find of him

You better tell me why the USA has 750 bases and Russia doesn’t even have 100 and why NATO is moving to the East and Russia is not moving to the West. Fraerok?😄😉

I think it should be stated that the UK had already sent considerable military aid (the best stuff Ukraine got, the nlaws) weeks before this started.

This misses that the UK sent several thousand anti-tank missiles shortly BEFORE the Russian invasion. These may have been more decisive in holding the initial Russian advance than later shipments from elsewhere..

The arms industry must be quite happy: "hurra...another war, that's good for our business." Of course, they don't want this war to end.

in 1974 a NATO member invaded another NATO ally....no reaction....48 years later the invasion neither revoked or condemned obviously this kind of support to Ukraine is not about EU stability or threat but is a political one

That nlaw or anti tank missile in the beginning was crazy close hitting the building in front of them. 💀

The NLAW is an incredible piece of kit, and in modern weaponry terms a really cheap one too. It is tipping the balance in urban warfare.

"Some are newer weapons like the javelin and stinger missile, but others are older from the soviet era". Ten seconds on google and they could have known the Stinger missile is from the soviet era, it's 41 years old, entered service in 1981. It was famously used by afghan forces against the soviets in the 80's. The Javelin entered service in 1996. So it is 26 years old. Then the guy talks about the older weapons systems being 30 years old (Unlike the new javelin and stinger).

It's amazing how fast governments can act on things like this, but basic improvements for their own citizens take years to push through bureaucracy. It's almost like normal people to go bankrupts, while they spend billions on war.

Why do I never hear about the $70 million in lethal and non lethal aid provided by Australia and many other Oceanic and Asia countries that have also provided large amounts lethal and non lethal aid. Do we only just acknowledge European counties and North America? Hard to show that the whole world stands with Ukraine when all these youtube videos and news stories only show half the world map providing aid.

When you get a chance to do real world testing of a weapons' system against live targets that belong to a country you have made your enemy without putting your own people at risk. You take that opportunity and run with it.

Turkey and the UK had already started sending weapons and supplies before the war, and Turkey had even sent UAVs.

That one tenth disadvantage in military spending is partly decimated by defensive tactics and smaller cheaper arms, as outlined ( Javelin, NLAW and Stinger etc.. ) Additionally being a defending force, offers numerical advantages. Ukraine still needs significant numbers of high altitude anti air systems and long range S2S GPS guided missiles. That is the remaining threat, yet to be effectively dealt with. Military intelligence on troop movements etc.. being another critical factor in levelling the playing field. Sanctions playing a longer term role. All these factors contribute towards the nullification of the disproportional advantage held by the invading forces.

*To everyone who flips through the comments, health to you and your loved ones.❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️*

Very well Explained the whole scenario in this brief Video ... 'Buisness Insider' 👌🏼

Thanks for the video

another missing point of the true cost: how´s life for ordinary citizens in the countries that spent billions for weapons. what could have been done with that money for the wellness of their own citizens?

This video is inaccurate. The UK sent Anti-tank weapons before the war even started…

I trained for the AT4 during my conscript days 1995. We had a trainer-weapon wich used a 9-mm bullet to hit a paper target at range. If you could hit in the center 1/3 both horisontally and vertically, you would also hit a tank with a real missile. It took about 4 hours to train a group of 32 unmotivated supply-clerks and cooks to a hit-ratio on a moving target of 70+%. The version going to Ukraine should not have the old iron-sights we used but some detachable scope-sight that is much better, wich was brand new 1995, and I bet that their soldiers are much more motivated. The AT4 projectile does not really kill tanks, but it does take out armored personell carriers, and other lightly armored wehicles if you shoot the sides, rear or top. I wish the Ukrainians good hunting, and may history have mercy on the poor Russian boys thrown into this war by the mass-murderer Putin!

This made me curious about the repercussion to the role of tanks and armored vehicles in future conflicts.

Thank you for starting WW3, really no, thank you so much! You noble glorious knights! Thank you for dragging Europa into darkness! Love to America. May the seeds you saw come back for you.

There are many countries outside of Nato supplying military aids to Ukraine, I fully support my Australian tax dollars aiding to Ukraine to defeat the modern day Hitler. And fighting for the free world on our behalf.

It is a perfect marriage. The Ukrainians have the troops but they badly need the weapons. NATO and EU have the weapons but don't wish to have their troops or citizens killed and they want a weak Russian military. No country, except Ukraine, really wants outdated weapons and new weapons have to be field tested and this is a great opportunity to do that.

Thanks UK for helping..

Not gonna lie, that first few seconds of the video, it looked like that NLAW missile was going to hit the lip of the building...

Weigh the monetary costs per missile vs. the crucial STRATEGIC BENEFITS of chipping away at Russia's military machine: Each tank/vehicle/artillery destroyed postpones Russian victory by an incremental amt of time, and increases its costs and political position at home. Ukraine gains leverage in any negotiated peace deal. OR if Russia "wins" outright in Ukraine, it becomes too exhausted to invade a NATO member or neighbor (Moldova, Baltics are next). Even if it attempts to invade another country, it would do so in a much weakened state. If Russia is stopped or severely weakened in Ukraine, it lowers the chances for direct NATO confrontation--and the unthinkable consequences that could entail. So if I have to pay higher taxes to send weapons to Ukraine, so be it.

No mention at all of Turkish drones which have been highly effective for Ukraine, particularly given lack of aircraft from US or EU!! They deserve a mention!

Russia: There's no reason to expand NATO! also Russia: Let's brutally invade our neighbors!

We should all remember we spent 300 million a day for 20 years in the Afghanistan endless war...Just sayin'

Probably takes months if not years to train up a tank or APC crew. You can learn how to use a top-down missle in a few hours. A tank gets about 0.6 MPG a guy hauling an nlaw gets about 3 miles per sandwich.

The UK shipped NLAWS before the conflict started, along with military personnel to train Ukrainian soldiers. Much of the stock was approaching end-of-life and is no economic cost to the UK as it has already been written down.

Can you make a video on the companies that deliever all this weapons

Man , NLAW & those Turkish drones are badass & so effective.

Why isn't it mentioned that the UK supplied the NLAW and has been giving top quality training SINCE 2014!!(to tens of thousands Ukrainian troops??)

Also Poland sent a lot of new gen "Piorun" missle launchers with thermovision that are deadly accurate

Jeez, that missile he fired at the start of the video almost hit the roof he was on!!!

They make good used of the weapons !!! Bravo 👏 Ukraine 🙏🙏🙏

Its cheaper, safer for other countries for Ukraine to fight Russia. 1 or 5 billion dollars is nothing if those countries have to fight RUSSIA for themselves.

The UK were one of the first to send NLAW and other equipment in large numbers days before the invasion, they did not follow others as this video suggests.

3:52 always gets me when he tries to do a speech.

Basically u can say nato weapons are killing Russian soldiers Basically a declaration of war even if the troops aren't doing the fighting...

THE SWITCHBLADE DRONES ARE BRAND NEW AND A GAME CHANGER

Sweden has sent 10 000 anti tank missiles + 135 000 military day rations of food + 5000 helmets + 5000 bullet proof wests + mine sweeping tech. That's from a country with a population of 10 million and a defense budget of $8 billion. The rest of the world got to step up their game!

This war is about Full-Spectrum US Empire Global Resource Dominance. Ukraine is being used to achieve that goal. Ukraine will realize that in the coming years.

Slava Ukraini!

We did some plane transmitter spotting online. And we saw a German A400M heading east with an Eurofighter escort, several days before the military aid was discussed in public....

I'm old enough to remember when Russia supplied the North Vietnamese with weaponry in the Vietnam War.

I really think that giving weapons to Ukraine will only make the conflict worse, as theres no way that ukraine military can compare to Russia. Instead of promoting peace talks, zelenski seems to be manipulated, theres no reason to put their citizens at risk anymore

Big ups to the Ukrainian military & people 👍👍 there doing the damm thing !!!!

This has to be a windfall for the armaments industry. Not only their bottom line but also for the testing ground Ukraine is unfortunately become.

Huge credit to all the countries involved in giving aid to Ukraine as well as the speed and urgency that they displayed in getting it done. Prayers for Ukraine.

Russia has used just 10% of its ground force, and 3 % of its air power. Ukraine as of today -23'd April i.e. Saint Georges Day is heading for defeat, and never had a chance. To bad for Ukraine they decided to ignore the the Minsk agreement they agreed and signed in May 2014. Slava Rossiye.

Russia wouldn't be having such an issue with the anti-tank weapons if they supported their armor with infantry like you're supposed to. Tanks without infantry support are sitting ducks.

What is the true cost for freedom? It does not come from dollars and cents. It comes from blood and death and sacrifice and human suffering. There is nothing more important to put resources into then protecting the rights and freedoms for all of humanity. Peace is truly the only way out of the madness and until humanity can clearly understand this we will "ALL" continue to suffer. 😥

The problem is that comparing Russia's defense spending/military might to Ukraines is an unrealistic comparison. A huge portion of Russia's military spending goes into maintaining their nuclear arsenal. These are effectively useless in this war. Their only purpose is to prevent NATO from joining in force. In addition, a lot of their money goes to maintaining legacy Soviet Era hardware like T-80 MBTs and whatnot. These, particularly with the use of cheap drones from Turkey and Anti-Tank Missiles like the NLAW are not the unstoppable wall of metal that they would have been in the war they were built for. In addition, they spend lots of money on flashy projects as a form of propaganda and force projection (like 5th Generation fighters), which while impressive, there simply aren't enough of them around to make much difference in comparison to how much they cost. Finally there's their Navy. The navy has minimal use in this invasion aside from taking the south of Ukraine. So while they may 'Outspend' Ukraine by a country mile, the vast majority of those funds don't manifest in hardware/troops/infrastructure ideal for the type of assault they're carrying out. Even accounting for this, the actual hardware entering Ukraine does likely represent significantly more military spending than Ukraine's entire military budget. But then you look at how Ukraine has spent their money and since the Crimean Peninsula was annexed it has been entirely focused on a defensive war against a russian invasion. That means they've been spending more efficiently. Add to this, that defending doesn't require expensive complex supply trains, troop enthusiasm/morale (fighting for your own country vs invading another country) and all the other things that have been mentioned. It's certainly not One-Sided in favour of Ukraine but it's not such a difference as the media tends to state.

Russia's heroic past has created a high level of nationalism. Although Russia suffered heavy losses in life and property during the Second World War, Russia's important contributions to maintaining and ensuring world peace and security is the affirmation of its position. Russia in the international arena. So Russia will not give up this war because of losses, the more it supports weapons for Ukraine, the faster the Ukrainian country will collapse.

US enticed Ukraine to take Nato membership which provoke Russia, once Russia attacked Ukrain, US denied sending troops but sent arms to Ukraine to fight with Russia. US think they are weakening there rival without loosing anything, but what they are missing is - - Weak Russia will be more dangerous, weaker country is more likely to use nuclear weapons when threatened. - This make Russia completely dependent on China, the real challenger for US hegemony. Rather the trying to expand Nato, US should have focused more on China. China alone would have been a worthy competitor, China + Russia now may be too much for US. Not a very sound strategic move in long term.

This is also an example of what could happen when China invades Taiwan. I am sure both sides are taking notes for when that invasion happens. If the Ukraine invasion goes badly the Taiwan invasion gets pushed back a few more years.

These missiles are designed to kill tanks and aircraft, specifically, Russian tanks and aircraft. NATO countries don't expect to use these missiles on other threats (the US does have to keep Asia in mind though). So there is no point to keep them in NATO stockpiles when they could be used to reduce the number of Russian tanks.

We supply Ukraine with weapons, and they drop them when retreating. Maybe it's time to keep the weapons for ourselves, and not supply Russia with expensive trophies?

Life is worth everything. The cost of life is in priceless.

"I need weapons not a ride". That phrase changed the fate of this war!

In a situation that is not full on war, it's certainly placing Tanks and Armor in the same class as the, 'Battleship': OBSOLETE! Every bush and ditch can conceal a killer Javelin or a Stinger and now infantry Drones.

YES..WE CAN!🇺🇦

Love your show

How much does it cost to lose the 1st line of defense and ultimately Europe? Give us the number for that.

comparison between total Equipment and Personel of Russia and Ukraine is untrue in the actual Situation, because Russia did not mobilize all of its Forces and even if they would, it is not certain that they could utilize or support all of it at once in active Combat, because of limited Supply, Command Structure and Space.

This country can no longer help every other country when things go wrong,every penny needs to stay here for the American people,the homeless,the veterans ,the elderly etc !

Much respect to ITALY and SPAIN!!!

We're spending huge amounts of money to support Ukraine for two main reasons: 1. We believe that their cause is sufficiently just that we'd gladly send in our own troops to help them more directly, if we could somehow guarantee that Russia wouldn't respond with nuclear weapons. We can't, and reducing the risk of nuclear war is more important than saving Ukraine. So we do the next best thing we can do - give them all of the supplies they need that we can afford (which is quite a lot) to defend themselves. 2. They are using these weapons very effectively. We don't like sending horribly expensive weapons to people who who will waste them. We're correspondingly ecstatic to send them to someone using them as well as the Ukrainians are. We worry about making weapons, giving the to people we support, and then having them taken by the people we wanted them used against. Ukraine has made us feel fairly confident that most of these missiles will be used against the Russians, not by them.

As long as we're worrying about costs, what is the cost of NOT arming Ukraine and resisting Russian expansion? I'm sure that cost is much more difficult to quantify; but it's probably long-term, much more serious.

The Western world is literally Sauron's army lmfao.

Send Ukraine M1 Abrams tanks, Cobra helicopters, Apache helicopters, A-10 Warthog, mortars, and AV-8 Harrier Fighter Jets. More NLAWS, more Javelins, more stingers, and some Israeli Spike missiles.

This piece is incorrect. Britain was arming Ukraine in December and January. Well before the invasion. It makes it look like the UK was late to the party instead of being first.

anti tank weapon will be expensive after this war and also will be most important weapon of a platoon army

We support them so that we don't have to personally fight!

At first we saw kilometers long line of Russian tanks headed for Ukraine. Lots of us were concerned! Now looking at all he destroyed Russian tanks we feel Puntang is as bad of a military man as he is a person! UKRAINIANS KICK @$$! 👊👍👍👍

A lot of these numbers are misleading. It's almost uncalculable to determine how many civilian fighters and volunteer fighters are on the ground in the Ukraine and if you equip them all with javelins "An extremely easy weapon to train people on. It almost operates itself." The battlefield starts to look a lot more interesting and plays into Ukraine's favor.

This highlights human resilience We never imagined Russia would struggle in a war. We never imagined US with all it's military hardware won't be able to defeat a bunch of tribesmen in AK47s!

God bless all countries helping Ukraine

Watching videos of invader tanks pop their tops is priceless.

What is the True Cost of not arming Ukraine? That's also a question worth asking, although it's difficult to put a cost figure on the next war that will inevitably follow once Russia sets its sights on Moldova, Georgia, the Baltic states, etc.

Great video! A lot of tiny details most videos would have missed is being discussed here

Great

I need ammunition not a ride this man is a badass I respect that.