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US weapons may only be used on Ukrainian soil – at least for now. Washington is apparently considering lifting the restriction.
Washington, DC – Until now, the sophisticated weapons provided to Ukraine by the United States have always had the same principle: They may not be fired into Russian territory. US President Joe Biden had emphasized that this was an important limit Ukraine War not to let it become a “Third World War”. But a debate has now apparently broken out in US government circles about relaxing this rule.
Ukraine’s allies have insisted since the start of the conflict that their missiles, drones or bombs cannot be used to bomb targets outside Ukrainian territory. Only targets on Ukrainian soil, including those occupied by Russia Crimea and the Donbass region were allowed to be attacked. This restriction, which stems from fears of escalation with Moscow, was strictly adhered to by Kiev. The dependence on Western arms supplies is too strong to violate such requirements from supporters in the West.
“US policy has effectively created a huge protective space”: Attacks on Russian territory soon?
But all that has changed with Moscow’s large-scale offensive in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine, which began on May 10. Weeks earlier, Ukrainian secret services had warned that Russian troops were gathering along the country’s northeastern border. Kiev, the warning goes, does not have the means to defeat them solely with its own arsenal of weapons. Neither the explosive charges carried by the Ukrainian drones nor the number of artillery shells would be sufficient to carry out large-scale attacks.
“The US politics “Effectively created a vast shelter in which Russia could deploy its ground invasion forces and from which it deployed glide bombs and other long-range strike systems to support its renewed invasion,” said a May 13 verdict from the U.S. think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) published report. According to Ukrainian officials, another 30,000 Russian soldiers had crossed the border into the Kharkiv region by that time, while another 50,000 were standing across the border to assist them.
US government is considering easing restrictions on weapons – Ukraine must “decide for itself”
During a visit to Kyiv on May 15, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken finally suggested for the first time that Ukrainian forces could attack Russian territory with weapons supplied by the US. “We have neither encouraged nor enabled attacks outside Ukraine, but ultimately Ukraine itself must decide how it wants to wage this war,” the foreign minister told members of the press at the time.
With these statements, Blinken has apparently brought a breath of fresh air into the matter. The proposal is still in the development phase, writes the New York Times in a report on Wednesday (May 22). It is not clear how many of Biden’s inner circle agreed to the proposal. In addition, it has not yet been formally presented to the president, who is considered to be cautious. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller also did not want to comment on Blinken’s move in Kiev. However, officials involved in the deliberations said Blinken’s position had changed.
Rethinking in the White House – some Republicans also support the use of US weapons
According to them, the US government became aware that Russia had deliberately positioned its troops in such a way that they could only be reached with Western weapons. Another indication of change, according to the newspaper, is US Defense Secretary Austin’s oft-repeated statement in recent days that they expect “they will continue to use the weapons we have provided against targets inside Ukraine.” He may have suggested that there could be exceptions for Russian aircraft operating in secure Russian territory just across the border. When asked whether such operations were “taboo or not taboo,” Austin simply did not answer.
In addition, a group of bipartisan representatives sent a letter to the Department of Defense on Monday (May 20) calling on the Department of Defense to lift the embargo. This is reported by the news website Axios“Ukrainians are unable to defend themselves due to the current administration’s policies,” the letter said. A Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, also made similar comments. On Wednesday, he spoke in favor of allowing Ukraine to use weapons provided by the United States against military targets on Russian territory. (tpn)
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