Untying Ukraine's Military From Unnecessary Restraint
"[The strikes] would not have happened [Russian bombing of Kharkiv] if our defence forces had the ability to destroy Russian military aircraft where they are based."Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy"The West needs to step up its game as Ukraine has done.""We should worry far more about the consequences of a Russian victory through attrition than we currently worry about the risks of escalation."Kurt Volker, former U.S. ambassador to NATO"[The Ukrainian incursion across the Russian border into Kursk has been] a tremendous blow to Putin's legitimacy, Putin's standing [and] a moment of vulnerability.""Now is the moment people start understanding this is not a just war."Abbas Gallyamov, former Putin speechwriter
The
Biden administration finally authorized use of American weaponry to
enable Ukraine to strike across the border into Russia. American
authorities describe the Ukrainian military action as "counterfire"
measures. Some leaders in Europe who are allies of Ukraine now urge the
United States to heed Zelenskyy's pleading and take immediate steps to
"untie" Ukraine's wish to demonstrate to the Russian tyranny that
Ukraine is fully capable of challenging the Kremlin's territorial grab
of the Donbas.
President
Zelenskyy envisions the strides his military could make in combating
the Russian forces invading his country and bombing his civil
infrastructure, the nation's energy grid, its far-flung cities, never
hesitating to bomb hospitals, apartment buildings, schools, shopping
centres, claiming them to be military bases, possibly hitch-hiking on
the Israel Defense Forces' discoveries that all such serve as launching
pads and military communications bases for Hamas in Gaza.
For
its part, the United States hesitates to allow Ukraine use of
U.S.-provided long-range missiles in blocking Russian drone and glide
bomb raids in Ukraine, prompted they say, through concerns of Russian
escalation, much less Putin's threats of the use of tactical nuclear
weapons. The very real prospect of a wider regional conflict is
legitimate enough, but how could that be more serious than that other
potential of Moscow; realizing success in Ukraine, moving on to repeat
its success elsewhere in eastern Europe?
Instead
of a war of attrition, efforts in avoiding escalation seems to sit more
comfortably with some, albeit not all of the leaders of the 52
countries engaged in supporting Ukraine in its defensive battle against
Russia. Directed by a clay mind that sees no problems in violating
international humanitarian law. One that ordered Russian troops to set
tire fires under one of the Zaporizhzhia power plant cooling towers.
Putin
has no use for such international laws, as demonstrated by Moscow's
boycott of a meeting of the UN Security Council hosted by Switzerland in
commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions on
international humanitarian laws, characterizing it as "a waste of time".
Unsurprising by one who has been amassing a record of lawless
infractions of international laws, while sitting as a respected,
'responsible' member of the Security Council.
Kyiv
has made it quite clear that its incursion into Kurk's primary goal was
disruption of Moscow's artillery attacks and supply lines to the
Kharkiv front. Over 250 glide bombs and hundreds of missiles have been
launched since summer's entrance, at towns in Ukraine. The intention was
to force Russia into deploying troops from the front line in Ukraine,
to defend the Kursk region. So far Russian troops sit on 20 percent of
Ukrainian geography.
Ukraine
has managed to seize over 1,290 square kilometres of Russian territory,
with 100 settlements in Kursk in Ukrainian hands, and the evacuation of
132,000 Russians. Putin avers that the small Kursk villages are of "no
strategic importance", avoiding the merest whisper of an admission that
Ukraine has managed to incur embarrassing damage to Russia's
self-portrayal as a peerless conquering, unstoppable force menacing the
sovereignty of the Soviet Union's former territorial appendages.
Without
equivocation it is true that Ukraine is outnumbered in troops and
advanced weaponry, although Russia, like Ukraine, is still making use of
Soviet-era weapons, as well. Yet there have been substantial victories
for Ukraine in taking the offensive in Russia such as its drone barrage
on a Moscow oil refinery, delivering the message to Russians that there
are consequences for Russians to Putin's war crimes in Ukraine.
The
Ukrainian military's Kursk advantages have certainly lifted Ukrainian
morale. Now, it is up to the United States to sustain that momentum, to
free Ukraine from two years of long-range missile restrictions so its
military can further advance its rescue of its territory in a courageous
bid for national self-preservation against a relentless enemy.
Labels: Russian Annexation of Ukrainian Territory, U.S. Missile Restraints, Ukrainian Counteroffensive
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