The United States is underestimating the level of military cooperation between Iran, Russia, North Korea and China, and is failing to make enough use of Ukraine's experience fighting that cooperation, retired US Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery said in an interview with Radio Liberty. Montgomery recently co-authored a book called "Axis of Aggressors."
Montgomery said Ukraine is effectively at war with Russia, Iran, North Korea and China at once. He said Iran has supplied not only thousands of drones but also the technology for Russia to produce them domestically, and that Russia is now manufacturing its own drones based on designs developed in Tehran.
He said North Korea has sent 12,000 soldiers, which has drawn most of the attention, but has also supplied between 5 million and 6 million artillery and mortar shells, more than NATO allies have produced combined over the past several decades. He added that China supports Russia's war effort by supplying microelectronics for the ballistic, hypersonic and cruise missiles now striking Kyiv.
Montgomery said that even under President Joe Biden, the United States was very slow to supply the right weapons systems with the necessary range, and that President Donald Trump has done even less, cutting security assistance by 99 percent.
Ukraine as a military 'laboratory'
Montgomery said the United States is not making full use of the lessons from Ukraine's war, which he called a laboratory. He said the US has only a minimal military presence in Ukraine, largely tied to the embassy, and lacks enough personnel absorbing lessons directly from the battlefield. Meanwhile, he said, Russia is aggressively passing those lessons to China, North Korea and Iran.
Ukraine currently receives intelligence from the United States, including warnings about the risk of massed Russian combined strikes, which allows civilians to be warned in time. The Starlink system, provided by the company of American businessman Elon Musk, is important for communication at the front. Ukraine does not receive US weapons as aid but buys them with money from European partners funding the PURL program.
