美国国家公共电台 NPR--Ukraine finds itself outnumbered as Russia advances in the Donbas

Ukraine finds itself outnumbered as Russia advances in the Donbas

Transcript¹

Russia is advancing in eastern Ukraine by deploying² its superior numbers. "The math problem is very difficult for the Ukrainians," Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint³ Chiefs of Staff, said in an interview with NPR's Morning Edition. An army gains an advantage when it concentrates more forces at a decisive point than its enemy does.

In the war's early weeks, Russia scattered⁴ its forces, attacking multiple objectives at once and failing to capture Ukraine's capital, Kyiv. Russia then refocused, withdrawing some forces and placing heavier emphasis on the eastern Donbas region. Milley, President Biden's top military adviser⁵, told NPR that Russia has massed greater numbers of combat units, as well as more artillery⁶, than the local defenders⁷ have.

At the time of the interview on Wednesday, Milley was visiting NATO headquarters in Brussels. He was meeting officials from allied⁸ nations to coordinate⁹ their efforts to make "the math problem" work out.

Ukrainians have been urging the U.S. and its allies to supply more weapons than they already have — and they too are thinking of the math problem. "The math is clear," Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told NPR's Greg Myre this week. "We will need parity¹⁰ of weapons if we're going to be effective in any sort of counteroffensive."

U.S. officials used their visit to Brussels to reject claims that U.S. aid is too small or slow. Defense¹¹ Secretary Lloyd Austin said Ukrainian forces are training to use truck-fired rocket systems donated by the U.S. — and he emphasized the math. The U.S. is sending only a handful of the systems, but he said their effect is multiplied because they can simultaneously¹² launch multiple precision-guided missiles.

Milley told reporters that the U.S. and its allies have contributed 97,000 Javelin¹³ missiles and other anti-tank weapons, which Milley calculated was "more anti-tank systems than there are tanks in the world."

In the NPR interview, Milley nonetheless acknowledged that Russia's larger military has been advancing in the Donbas region. "It's a fair statement to say that they're gaining ground tactically, but it's very, very slow," he said. Many Russian attacks have gained only a few hundred meters of ground before stalling. The advances are not "strategically" important, he asserted. At the news conference, he called it a "very severe battle of attrition, almost World War I-like."

Attrition, of course, affects the math. Asked if Ukraine, with its smaller army and much smaller population, was running out of trained troops, Milley acknowledged the difficulty but expressed hope by using an equation. "The moral is to the physical as 3 is to 1, as the saying goes," he said. In other words, Ukrainians' higher morale¹⁴ will multiply their strength as they defend their homeland. Milley cited media estimates that Ukraine has raised as many as 700,000 troops, enough to greatly outnumber the original Russian invasion force.

Many are not properly armed or trained, however. Properly arming them was Milley's focus during the visit in Brussels. At one point in the NPR interview, he noted¹⁵, "We're only 110 days into this thing" — and the word "only" suggested how many more days of ruthless destruction may remain before the war's end.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

3 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

4 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

5 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

6 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

7 defenders   

n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者

参考例句：

• The defenders were outnumbered and had to give in. 抵抗者寡不敌众，只能投降。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• After hard fighting,the defenders were still masters of the city. 守军经过奋战仍然控制着城市。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

9 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。

10 parity   

n.平价，等价，比价，对等

参考例句：

• The two currencies have now reached parity.这两种货币现已达到同等价值。
• Women have yet to achieve wage or occupational parity in many fields.女性在很多领域还没能争取到薪金、职位方面的平等。

11 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

12 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。

13 javelin   

n.标枪，投枪

参考例句：

• She achieved a throw of sixty metres in the javelin event.在掷标枪项目中，她掷了60米远。
• The coach taught us how to launch a javelin.教练教我们投标枪。

14 morale   

n.道德准则，士气，斗志

参考例句：

• The morale of the enemy troops is sinking lower every day.敌军的士气日益低落。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

15 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。