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STARSThursday, June 16, 2022ANDSTRIPES PAGE 3MILITARYNavy relieves seventh leader in two weeksBY ALISON BATHStars and StripesA U.S. Navy officer who in thepast was recog nized for his lea dership abilitieswas relieved ofcommand of aSan Diego baseddestroyerthisweek, the sev enth leader oust ed by the service Lesacain two weeks.Cmdr. Peter Lesaca was re moved Tuesday as commandingofficer of USS Preble because of aloss of confidence, the Navy saidin a statement Tuesday.The Navy did not give details,but in contrast with the previousannouncements, this time the ser vice added language about theconduct demands for command ing officers.“They are expected to upholdthe highest standards of responsi bility, reliability and leadership,and the Navy holds them accoun table when they fall short of thosestandards,” the statement read.Capt. Larry Repass, deputycommodore of Destroyer Squad ron 23, will assume command ofPreble in the interim, according tothe statement. The Navy did notsay where Lesaca had been as signed.Lesaca was the recipient of the2012 Vice Admiral Kihune Awardfor Leadership. He also was giventhe 2013 Navy League of the Unit ed States’ John Paul Jones Awardfor Inspirational Leadership, ac cording to his online Navy biogra phy.Since graduating from the Na val Academy in 2003, he served onseveral destroyers, including USSLaboon and USS Gonzalez.He has received numerousawards and commendations, thebiography states.Over the weekend, the Navy an nounced it had removed threeleaders, two from the leadershipteam of the Norfolk, Va. based de stroyer USS Bulkeley.Commanding officer Cmdr. De vine Johnson and Command Mas ter Chief Petty Officer Earl San ders were relieved of their dutiesFriday. Capt. Jeffry Sandin wasremoved as commanding officerof Recruit Training Command inGreat Lakes, Ill., on Saturday.On June 8, the Navy removedCmdr. Matthew McCormick ascommanding officer of a Growlersquadron deployed to the Medi terranean Sea as part of the USSHarry S. Truman carrier strikegroup.And on May 31, Capt. Amy Lar son, the commanding officer, andMarine Corps Lt. Col. Bret Swaim,the executive officer, were dis missed from their positions at theNaval Justice School in Newport,R.I. In each case, the Navy cited aloss of confidence but provided nofurther details.bath.alison@stripes.comTwitter: @alisonbathHouse Dems unveil budgetwithout inflation adjustmentBY SVETLANA SHKOLNIKOVAStars and StripesDAVID R. KRIGBAUM/U.S. NavyPetty Officer 3rd Class Richard Reddick scans and sorts mail at the Navy post office at Kadena Air Base,Japan, in December.Military postal system to end mailprivileges for overseas retireesBY DAVID CHOIStars and StripesCAMP HUMPHREYS, SouthKorea — Military retirees, RedCross workers and some govern ment employees living and work ing overseas will lose access to themilitary mail service starting Aug.24, a postal service superinten dent said Wednesday.The Defense Department inMay directed the Military PostalService Agency to end service forthose customers, James Groff, thepostal superintendent at CampHumphreys, told Stars andStripes by phone. He said he didnot know what categories of go vernment employees would alsobe affected.The change is scheduled to af fect all Air/Army Post Office, orAPO, and Fleet Post Office, orFPO, addresses worldwide.Groff said his office receivednotice of the looming changes onFriday and that the guidancecould still change.Meanwhile, the reaction in themilitary postal service communi ty, which employs dozens of mil itary retirees, has been fierce, hesaid.“There’s other retirees that areaffected all over the place,” Groffsaid. “I spoke to one retiree, andyou wouldn’t want to quote thelanguage he used.”The overseas military post of fices provide mail service for ser vice members, civilian DefenseDepartment employees and somecontractors. Groff said he was un aware of any changes to servicefor those people. Mail sent to U.S.military bases overseas is handledexclusively by the U.S. Postal Ser vice, which charges domesticpostage rates regardless of its des tination.Sunsetting mail privileges foroverseas military retirees wouldforce many of them to rely on theirhost nation postal services fortheir mail delivery. Some over seas retirees, for example, rely onthe military mail service to pro vide timely delivery of medica tions from the Department of Vet erans Affairs.The Military Postal ServiceAgency, an extension of the PostalService, was created in 1980 toconsolidate postal operationsfrom all military services, accord ing to the U.S. Postal Servicehandbook.The agency operates in 63 coun tries and on 626 ships.choi.david@stripes.comTwitter: @choibboyWASHINGTON — House Dem ocrats unveiled a draft defense ap propriations bill Tuesday that is inline with the White House’s re quest for Pentagon funding in fis cal 2023 despite calls by Republi cans to adjust spending for recordinflation.The proposed 762 billion billprovides continued security aidfor Ukraine, pours resources intothe Indo Pacific region to counterChina, invests in clean energy toaddress climate change, and ad dresses sexual assault and suicidein the military.It also notably allocates an addi tional 600 million for troops’ payand prohibits the Defense Depart ment from denying service mem bers and civilians leave to obtainan abortion, reflecting concernsover an upcoming Supreme Courtdecision that could overturn abor tion rights.Republicans and some centristDemocrats have criticized theWhite House for presenting a de fense budget that accounts for in flation in the 2.3% to 2.6% range in stead of meeting inflation ratespikes of 8%. But Democrats onthe House Appropriations Com mittee ignored those complaintsin the first version of a bill that willbe debated Wednesday and even tually merged with drafts from theHouse and Senate Armed Servic es committees.“Democrats are investing increating good paying union jobs,ensuring a safe environment forour service members and theirfamilies, and taking on the very se rious security threats facing ournation and the world,” said Rep.Betty McCollum, D Minn., chair woman of the committee’s de fense subpanel. “We also scruti nized this year’s budget for ineffi ciencies and for cuts that could bemade to save taxpayer money.”The proposed legislation cuts 803 million from the White Hous e’s request for military personnel, 848 million from the request foroperations and maintenance and 960 million from the request forprocurement. One of the reduc tions targets the Air Force’s re quest for 24 F 15EX fighter jets ata cost of 2.7 billion, dropping pro curement to 18 fighters at a cost of 1.9 billion.Details on the other cuts werenot available. House appropria tors are sticking to the 4.6% payraise proposed for the militarythough several lawmakers, in cluding some Democrats, haveadvocated for higher pay. Rep.Jackie Speier, D Calif., concededlast week that the current figure“may not be enough” to meet therising cost of living. House Appro priations Committee ChairwomanRosa DeLauro, D Conn., de scribed the pay raise as “strong”in a statement Tuesday. A subpan el of the Senate Armed ServicesCommittee on Tuesday supportedthe 4.6% bump as well.The House panel increased theWhite House’s requests in otherareas. An additional 1.6 billion isearmarked for research and de velopment while other fundingboosts cover environmental resto ration activities, training for com bat and peace missions, commun ity programs for students, foreigndisaster relief and equipment.Lawmakers also want to fundtwo more CH 53K helicoptersthan the 10 that were requestedand save five Freedom class litto ral combat ships that the Navy hadslated for decommissioning.The Senate Armed ServicesCommittee is debating its fiscal2023 defense authorization billthis week and the full House andSenate will vote on the must passannual legislation later this year.shkolnikova.svetlana@stripes.comTwitter: @svetashko

STARSPAGE 4ANDSTRIPES Thursday, June 16, 2022MILITARYSwedish, US troops drill on remilitarized islandAssociated PressVISBY, Sweden — Having todefend Gotland against a foreigninvasion seemed such a far fetched notion to Swedish deci sion makers at the start of the cen tury that they demilitarized theBaltic Sea island.Now, the Swedish Armed Forc es are back, and they are practic ing with U.S. troops not just how todefend the island with a popula tion of 58,000, but how to take itback from a foreign aggressor.U.S. Marines have conductedair drops and amphibious land ings on Gotland as part of a NATOexercise in the Baltic Sea.Though the annual BALTOPSexercise isn’t held in response to aspecific threat, this year’s editioncomes amid heightened tensionswith Russia following its invasionof Ukraine. About 7,000 militarypersonnel and 45 ships from 14NATO countries, as well as Swe den and Finland, took part.Despite their non aligned sta tus, the two Nordic countries havepracticed regularly with NATOcountries, and their governmentsdecided in the wake of the Ukrainewar to seek full membership in theWestern military alliance.“I’m feeling really prepared. Imean, we have made a big deploy JAMES BROOKS / APTroops on Gotland beach following amphibious landing drill, part of BALTOPS annual Baltic Sea militaryexercise in Tofta, Gotland, Sweden on June 7.ment on Gotland, and we will de fend Gotland,” Swedish Col. Mag nus Frykvall, the island’s regi ment commander, said as militaryhardware was being deployed onthe coast. “It’s a really hard task totake a defended island.”Strategically located in the mid dle of the southern part of the Bal tic Sea, Gotland has seen foreigninvasions throughout its history,the most recent one in 1808, whenRussian forces briefly occupied it.But after the Cold War ended,Sweden felt the risk of a Russianaggression was so remote it refo cused its armed forces on foreignpeacekeeping operations ratherthan territorial defense. The Got land regiment was closed in 2005as Sweden downsized its military.Russia’s annexation of Uk raine’s Crimea Peninsula in 2014led to a rethink, and a new regi ment was established on Gotlandin 2018. There are now around 400Swedish soldiers permanentlybased on the island. Further rein forcements are planned followingRussia’s invasion of Ukraine.Nonetheless, many Gotlandersfeel Sweden would not be able todefend the island on its own.“If we were to be invaded, wewouldn’t stand a chance becauseour defense is too small. We have areally modern and good defense,but it’s too small,” said Lars Söder dahl, a 33 year old chef in the is land’s main town, Visby.Sweden, which has stayed out ofmilitary alliances since the Napo leonic Wars, applied for NATOmembership together with Fin land in a historic move last month.NATO’s existing 30 members areset to discuss the issue this month.Turkey has threatened to hold upthe applications over the twocountries’ perceived support forKurdish groups.Finland and Sweden havesought security assurances fromthe U.S. and other NATO coun tries during the application peri od.Kicking off the BALTOPS exer cises earlier this month in Stock holm, U.S. Gen. Mark Milley,chairman of the Joint Chiefs ofStaff, said it was important for theNATO allies “to show solidaritywith both Finland and Sweden.”Their membership in the alli ance would leave Russia in a diffi cult military position, with theBaltic Sea encircled by NATOmembers except for in Russia’sBaltic exclave of Kaliningrad andthe Russian city of St. Petersburgand its surrounding areas.The strategic importance ofGotland, a popular summer vaca tion spot for Swedes, is oftenviewed in relation to the Balticcountries of Estonia, Latvia andLithuania, which are particularlyworried about any Russian ag gression following the Ukraine in vasion.Gotland is about 60 miles frommainland Sweden and 100 milesfrom the coast of Latvia,“The thing is, from here, youmake supplying and supportingthe Baltic states a lot easier or a lotmore difficult, depending on whois in control of the island,” said Mi kael Norrby, an Uppsala Universi ty academic.Weapons: Turkish leader continues opposition to NATO expansionFROM PAGE 1must step up weapons deliveriesto Ukraine and prove its commit ment to helping the country’s mil itary fight along a 600 mile frontline in a grinding war of attritionwith Russia.He urged the participating na tions to demonstrate “our unwa vering determination to get Uk raine the capabilities that it ur gently needs to defend itself.” Andhe warned, “We can’t afford to letup and we can’t lose steam. Thestakes are too high.”Overall, since the war began inlate February, the U.S. has com mitted about 5.6 billion in secur ity assistance to Ukraine, includ ing this latest package. Officialssaid that about one third of the lat est 1 billion will be from presi dential drawdown authority,which means the Pentagon willtake weapons and equipmentfrom its own stock and ship themto Ukraine. The remaining two thirds would be equipment andweapons purchased from industryby the U.S. and then transferred toUkraine.Austin’s meeting, also attendedby Ukrainian Defense MinisterOleksii Reznikov, came on theopening day of a two day gather ing of NATO defense ministers atthe alliance’s headquarters.Increased arms supplies can’tcome too soon for the Ukrainianforces battling to keep Russiafrom taking control of their coun try’s industrial east after morethan 3½ months of war. In hisnightly address to the nation,President Volodymyr Zelenskyypleaded Tuesday for more andfaster deliveries of Western arms,specifically asking for anti missiledefense systems.“Allies are committed to contin ue providing the military equip ment that Ukraine needs to pre vail, including heavy weapons andlong range systems,” said JensStoltenberg, NATO secretary general.Ukrainian Deputy DefenseMinister Hanna Malyar saidTuesday that without help fromthe West, “we will not be able towin this war.” She said Ukraineuses 5,000 to 6,000 artilleryrounds a day, while Russia uses 10times that many.The defense ministers alsoplanned to discuss moves to beefup forces along NATO’s easternflank and elsewhere, which havegathered strength since Russia in vaded Ukraine.“This will mean more presence,more capabilities and higher rea diness, with more NATO forwarddeployed combat formations tostrengthen our battlegroups in theEast, more air, sea and cyber de fenses, pre positioned equipmentand weapon stockpiles,” Stolten berg said.On a separate but related sub ject, he wouldn’t commit to a time frame for Sweden and Finlandjoining NATO.Turkish President Recep Tayy ip Erdogan is blocking the mem bership bids, accusing the Nordicnations of supporting Kurdishmilitants deemed by Turkey to beterrorists.“My aim is to solve this issue assoon as possible, but since we areseveral nations involved in thisprocess, there is no way to tell youexactly when we will solve it,”Stoltenberg said.Because of Turkey’s concerns,“this will take some more timethan we originally expected,” hesaid.Erdogan signaled Wednesdayhe won’t back down.“We will most definitely notchange our stance until Swedenand Finland take clear, concreteand determined steps in the fightagainst terrorism,” Erdogan saidin an address to his ruling party’slegislators.All 30 NATO members mustagree to admit new members.U.K. Defense Secretary BenWallace said at a meetingWednesday in Oslo that a goal forthe NATO summit in Madrid is en suring “that Sweden and Finlandare successfully on the next steptowards accession into NATO.”But he said it’s also important towork with Turkey and mitigate itsconcerns.Marine Corps orders aviation stand-down after nine deathsBY ERIKA I. RITCHIEThe Orange County RegisterAfter the deaths of nine Marines and theloss of four aircraft in six months, MarineCorps officials announced Tuesday that allof its aviation units will be required to stopflying for a day to review safety procedures,address areas of concern and gather feed back.The units will need to do their “standdown” between June 21 and July 1. The an nouncement follows a similar one day “sa fety pause” initiated by the Navy for itsaviation units worldwide on Monday.On June 8, an MV 22B Osprey crashedover a training range in California’s Imperi al Valley while doing aerial target exercis es. All five Marines on board were killed;they were part of a Camp Pendleton squad ron known as the Purple Foxes.The investigation into the crash is ongo ing.Four Marines from the 2nd Marine Air craft Wing based in Jacksonville, N.C., werekilled in March when an Osprey they wereriding in went down during a training exer cise in Norway.Last week, the Navy had a helicoptercrash the day after the Osprey went down inthe Imperial Valley near Glamis. The Navyhelicopter crashed in the same generaltraining area, but had no significant injuriesreported.A Navy F/A 18E Super Hornet crashedJune 3 in the desert near Trona, killing itspilot.

Thursday, June 16, 2022 STARSANDSTRIPES PAGE 5EUROPERussia hits ammo depot in western UkraineBY JOHN LEICESTERYURAS KARMANAUANDAssociated PressKYIV, Ukraine — The Russian militarysaid it used long range missiles Wednesday todestroy a depot in the western Lviv region ofUkraine where ammunition for NATO sup plied weapons was being stored, and the gov ernor of a key eastern city acknowledged thatRussian forces are advancing amid heavyfighting.Those strikes came as fighting raged for thecity of Sievierodonetsk in Ukraine’s easternDonbas area, the focus of Russia’s offensive inrecent weeks.Russia backed separatists accused Ukrai nian forces of sabotaging an evacuation of ci vilians from the city’s besieged Azot chemicalplant, where about 500 civilians and an un known number of Ukrainian fighters are be lieved to be sheltering from missile attacks. Itwasn’t possible to verify that claim.A humanitarian corridor from the Azotplant had been announced a day earlier byRussian officials, who said they would take ci vilians to areas controlled by Russian forces.Many previously announced planned evac uations from other areas of fighting in Uk raine have failed, with each side blaming theother. Some Ukrainians have been reluctantto evacuate to Russian held territory.The Ukrainian governor of Luhansk, Ser hiy Haidai, told The Associated Press that“heavy fighting in Sievierodonetsk continuestoday as well.” The situation in the city is get ting worse, Haidai admitted, because Russianforces have more manpower and weapons.“But our military is holding back the enemyfrom three sides at once,” Haidai said. “Theenemy is advancing because of significant ad vantage in artillery and people, but the Ukrai nian army is holding on to its positions in thecity.”Russian Defense Ministry spokesman IgorKonashenkov said Russian forces used high precision Kalibr missiles to destroy the depotnear the town of Zolochiv in the Lviv regionEFREM LUKATSKY/APSoldiers of Ukraine’s special operations unit lay anti tank mines on a forest road on theRussian troops’ potential way in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, on Tuesday.near the border with NATO member Poland.Konashenkov said shells for M777 howitz ers, a type supplied by the United States, werebeing stored there. He said four howitzerswere destroyed elsewhere in fighting and thatRussian airstrikes also destroyed Ukrainian“aviation equipment” at a military aero drome in the southern Mykolaiv region.There was no immediate comment on theZolochiv strike from the Ukrainians.While focusing most of their attacks oneastern Ukraine, where they are trying to cap ture large swaths of territory, Russian forceshave also been hitting more specific targetselsewhere in the country, using high preci sion missiles to disrupt the international sup ply of weapons and destroy military infras tructure.The latest attacks came as Ukraine keepsup its pressure on Western countries to deliv er more arms and as NATO countries pledgemore heavy weapons for Ukraine.In recent days, Ukrainian officials havespoken of the heavy human cost of the war,with the fierce fighting in the east becomingan artillery battle that has seen Kyiv’s forcesoutgunned and outnumbered.“The losses, unfortunately, are painful, butwe have to hold out,” Ukrainian President Vo lodymyr Zelenskyy said late Tuesday in hisnightly video address. “The more losses theenemy suffers there, the less strength it willhave to continue the aggression. Therefore,the Donbas is key to determining who willdominate in the coming weeks.”Other developments: Russia’s Gazprom announced a reduc tion in natural gas flows through a key Euro pean pipeline for the second day in a rowWednesday, hours after Germany’s vicechancellor said its initial move appeared to bepolitical rather than a result of technical prob lems.The state owned energy giant said on Twit ter that deliveries through the Nord Stream 1pipeline to Germany would be cut againThursday, bringing the overall reductionthrough the undersea pipeline to 60%.The new cut came a day after Gazprom saidit would reduce flows by 40% after Canadiansanctions over the war in Ukraine preventedGerman partner Siemens Energy from deli vering overhauled equipment. It blamed thesame issue for the additional reduction.Gazprom also told Italian gas giant Eni thatit would reduce gas through a different pipe line by roughly 15% on Wednesday. The rea son for the reduction has not been made clear,and the Italian company said it was monitor ing the situation.The reduced flows follow Russia’s previoushalt of natural gas supplies to Bulgaria, Po land, Finland, the Netherlands and Denmarkas Europe works to reduce its dependence onRussian energy amid the war in Ukraine. Gasdemand has fallen after the end of the winterheating season, but European utilities are rac ing to refill storage ahead of next winter withprices high and supplies uncertain. A U.N. delegation investigating warcrimes in Ukraine has visited areas of thecountry that were held by Russian troops andsays there is evidence that could support warcrimes allegations.The delegation chaired by Erik Møse, aNorwegian judge, visited sites including theKyiv suburbs of Bucha and Irpin, where Uk rainian authorities have accused Russia ofmass killings of civilians.“At this stage we are not in a position tomake any factual findings or pronounce our selves on issues of the legal determination ofevents,” Møse said.“However, subject to further confirmation,the information received and the visited sitesof destruction may support claims that seri ous violations of international human rightslaw and international humanitarian law, per haps reaching war crimes and crimes againsthumanity, have been committed in the ar eas,” he said.DOD official: Putin still aims to conquer Ukraine despite early lossesBY CAITLIN DOORNBOSStars and StripesWASHINGTON — Russian President Vla dimir Putin still desires to take over Ukrainecompletely as his armed forces make pro gress in the eastern part of the country, U.S.Undersecretary of Defense for Policy ColinKahl said Tuesday.“Our sense is that he has not changed hisoverall objectives,” Kahl said during a nation al security conference held by the Center for aNew American Security, a Washington thinktank. “I still think he has designs on a

Artillery Rocket Systems that U.S. forces are training Ukrainian troops on now — all key weapons systems that Ukrainian leaders have urgently requested. Biden also said the U.S. will send 225 million more in humanitarian as sistance to provide safe drinking water, medical supplies, food,