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Erik Prince has disputed the effectiveness of the American weapons used by Ukraine in the conflict
The Russian military has become “infinitely smarter” in countering the US-supplied weapons being used by Ukraine, according to Erik Prince, the founder and former CEO of the private military company Blackwater.
Speaking at Hillsdale College on Saturday, Prince also expressed skepticism over claims that the Russian army has been significantly weakened in the conflict.
“The thing that the Russians are very good at is electronic warfare,” Prince stated, emphasizing that advanced American weaponry, such as Javelin missiles, HIMARS, and Copperhead guided artillery shells, often become ineffective within weeks. “It works for a week or two, and the Russians figure how to jam the navigation or the command link, and the stuff goes blind.”
Prince also pushed back against assertions that the Russian forces have been significantly weakened. “First of all, don’t listen to the idiot politicians that say, yeah, we’ve degraded the Russian army. No, we have chewed up a lot of material. The Russian army has gotten infinitely smarter.”
He pointed to the rapid improvements in Russian counter-artillery capabilities, contrasting the response time between early 2022 and now. “If you shot at a Russian, with artillery in March or April of 2022, it would take them an hour and a half to shoot back accurately. Now, about two minutes, which means if you shoot at them, you better be in your vehicle and hauling ass because they’re going to get you otherwise.”
The Russian Defense Ministry provides regular updates on the destruction of Western-donated equipment such as HIMARS and ATACMS missile launchers in Ukraine.
Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, the US has been Kiev’s largest weapons supplier. After US President Donald Trump took office in January, he has made peace in Ukraine one of his top priorities and criticized the administration of former President Joe Biden for spending billions of American taxpayer dollars supporting Kiev.
Trump briefly suspended military aid and intelligence sharing following a public dispute with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky at the White House in February. However, the assistance was restored after Kiev agreed to support a 30-day ceasefire with Moscow.
Moscow has repeatedly warned that Western military aid merely extends the hostilities but will not alter the conflict’s outcome and risks a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO.
