“This is insane,” said David Alakhamiya, a member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine’s parliament, emphatically saying what most military experts and analysts have been thinking for years. It has been discussed repeatedly in the Post and Washington.
Last week, Mr. Alhamiya led a Ukrainian delegation to Washington, D.C., and met with senior Biden administration officials. He rightly criticized the Pentagon’s ban on using ammunition.
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Ukraine is currently facing a Bastogne-like moment in Kharkiv Oblast. If Kiev had been allowed to intercept these forces in the Belgorod region before launching the offensive, Ukraine could have prevented Russia from seizing about 50 square miles of Ukrainian territory.
In lobbying Biden administration officials and members of Congress to force the U.S. to lift the ban, Alhamiyah doubled down, calling the White House’s policy of giving Russia sanctuary “crazy.”
It is certainly so. Both strategically and tactically.
Oleksandra Ustinova, head of the Arms and Ammunition Committee of the Ukrainian Parliament, added: [Russia] Please know that there are restrictions on Ukrainians firing on Russian territory. ”
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The Biden administration has certainly provided Russian President Vladimir Putin and his military sanctuary to Russia, allowing them to determine the battlefield situation without fear of prosecution.
Ukraine’s perspective is shared by many of its European allies.
Finland’s Defense Minister Antti Hakkenen said in February that his country had no restrictions on what it could do with weapons provided by Ukraine. Jukka Kopra, head of the Finnish parliament’s defense committee, added: “If necessary, Ukraine should also attack Russian military targets.” This is a completely legitimate defensive war carried out by Ukraine. The United Nations Charter allows attacks on military targets across land borders. ”
The insanity of being unable to escape from a persistent “close race” may serve the Biden administration’s “weakening Russia” strategy, but it will literally kill Ukraine.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Barbock, speaking at the European Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Strasbourg, France, called for providing the Ukrainian military with more long-range weapons to strike targets deep behind the front lines, but inexplicably, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has remained adamant about supplying Ukraine with long-range Taurus missiles, fearing an escalation of tensions.
Meanwhile, President Putin continues to escalate attacks, including attacks on Ukrainian civilian areas in Kharkiv city and Odessa.
Jean-Louis Bourlange, head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the French parliament, took a similar position. In early May, he called on the French leadership to authorize Ukraine to use French-supplied weapons to attack troops in Russia, saying, “The right to self-defense does not include the right to inviolability of territory by the aggressor.” be excluded.”
But in Washington, it’s been a schizophrenic week for the Biden administration. Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon have gone their separate ways, with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan talking about a 2025 counterattack. For Ukraine, abandoning deterrence is a death sentence. If Kiev cannot stem the flow of Russian troops across its border, it will not be able to mount a counteroffensive or even win the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his generals must create space, breathing space. It’s a task that can’t be accomplished while staying in constant contact. The madness of perpetually “close races,” a Groundhog Day scenario, may serve the Biden administration’s “weak Russia” strategy, but it will literally kill Ukraine.
Notably, on Thursday afternoon, Sabrina Singh, the Pentagon’s assistant press secretary, made statements that clearly contradicted statements made by Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his visit to Kiev earlier this week.
When asked about the US position on Ukraine attacking targets inside Russia with US-made weapons, she replied: We believe that the equipment and capabilities we are providing to Ukraine should be used to reclaim Ukraine’s sovereign territory. ”
Singh stressed that although Russia is massing troops and equipment across the border to use in an attack on Kharkiv, the full use of its weapons – and therefore its capabilities – will be made “within Ukrainian territory.”
“The United States is committed to helping Ukraine win this war,” Blinken told reporters Wednesday in a joint interview with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. He continued: “While we do not encourage or authorize attacks outside Ukraine, ultimately Ukraine must decide for itself how to wage this war.” The war is fought to protect our country’s freedom and sovereignty, and its territorial integrity. And we will continue to provide Ukraine with the equipment it needs to succeed, the equipment it needs to win.”
His comments appear to have given Ukraine permission to block Russian troops from assembling on the other side of the border. Earlier this month, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron reaffirmed Britain’s support for Ukraine, backing Ukraine to use British-supplied weapons, including the Storm Shadow, to attack targets inside Russia.
Foggy Bottom also doesn’t seem to be able to keep the story straight. In late March, when asked about Ukraine’s targeting of a Russian oil company, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters that “Ukraine does not encourage or support attacks outside its territory.” “It has always been our position since the beginning of this war that we will not…that is a fact.” This is a long-standing policy that we have made clear to the Ukrainian government that they would not do such a thing and they would not know about it. ”
The Biden administration’s Ukraine defense strategy is not working and is putting Kharkiv and Kiev at risk. They need to embrace General George S. Patton’s perspective that “no one has ever successfully defended anything; there is only attack, attack, and attack some more.”
Ukraine needs authorization to use U.S. and NATO weapons systems to attack targets inside Russia after the fact.
Mr. Blinken’s announcement last week about releasing an additional $2 billion in military aid to Ukraine, while welcome and necessary to stop the bleeding, is actually about the same. Sullivan acknowledged that it was about “holding the line” and that additional funding was needed. It’s one thing to want Ukraine to win and another thing to help Ukraine win. Half-hearted measures will not help, and Ukraine needs “actions, not words.”
Gen. Mark T. Kimmitt, a retired U.S. Army brigadier general, argues that while Congressional support is necessary, it is not enough to reverse the “deteriorating situation in Ukraine.” He said the United States must “loosen the handcuffs on Mr. Zelenskiy and allow him to use the weapons and equipment we provide.”
Former National Security Adviser and retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. HR McMaster agrees, arguing that “the time has passed to give Ukraine what it needs.”
Renowned military analyst Seth Jones reminds us that “without a clear U.S. strategy and a continued supply of Western weapons, intelligence and training, Putin could win.” I let it happen.
Ukraine needs authorization to use U.S. and NATO weapons systems to attack targets inside Russia after the fact. A single word could make or break the war for Ukraine: Deterrence: Destroy an enemy’s surface military capabilities before they can be effectively used against friendly forces or achieve any other objectives. Acts that divert, impede, delay, or destroy surface military capabilities.
If the Biden administration can’t get the schizophrenia under control by abandoning the defense strategy, Zelenskiy and his generals should call it what it is meant to be: a self-defense strike to defeat an immediate threat to Ukraine’s military and civilian population. Dew. It appears to be functioning in the US Central Command in the Middle East.
The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Kyiv Post.
Copyright 2024. Jonathan E. Sweet and Mark C. Toth. All rights reserved.
