Equalizing the Playing Field of Conflict
"This is a qualitatively new round of tension and a qualitatively new situation in terms of U.S. involvement in this conflict.""It's clear that the outgoing administration in Washington intends to take steps to, they've said so, to continue to add fuel to the fire and to further provoke the level of tension."Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov"I think the notion of fuel on the fire is, frankly, a side issue to the main issue which is Russia waging a war of aggression across a sovereign border into Ukraine and continuing to do so."U.S. deputy national security adviser Jon Finer"There's a lot of talk in the media about us receiving permission for respective actions.""But strikes are not carried out with words. Such things are not announced.""Missiles will speak for themselves."Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy
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| An ATACMS missile is loaded onto the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). |
Russian state newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta produced an op-ed interpreting the new direction given to Ukraine by the Biden administration for limited use of long-range missiles within Russian borders, interpreting the reluctant permission as the outgoing Biden administration's choice to "complicate the implementation of any of Trump's peace initiatives".
The decision by the Biden administration to give Kyiv permission to use American longer-range missiles for limited strikes inside Russia, predictably did not sit well with Russia whose officials lost no time in furiously condemning the decision. While President Vladimir Putin has not yet responded directly to his "red line" crossing (hinting at nuclear options), Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed the Kremlin view that the move added "fuel to the fire", increasing tensions on the U.S.-Russia relationship.
Logic has no place in this reaction by Moscow. Given the fact that an agreement with North Korea and Russia has led to tens of thousands of North Korean soldiers travelling to Russia to help in their war effort. Nor the development of a new generation of drones with fearful consequences, in their geothermic explosive results, packed with ball bearings for maximum collateral damage. Much less the thousands of missiles fired by Russia last month and more in November, into Ukraine.
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| A Ukrainian rocket launcher fires towards Russian positions at the frontline near Kreminna, Ukraine. Photograph: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP |
Jon Finer, responding to Russia's condemnation from the perspective of his position as U.S. deputy national security adviser, while attending the Group of 20 summit in Brazil, declined to publicly confirm the authorization of the weapons to Ukraine, but he did pointedly speak to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia representing a fire of monumental proportions lit by Russia, in eastern Europe.
Ukrainian officials were loathe to make any comments, despite this new turn of events answering to Ukraine's President's long and persistent efforts to persuade its major benefactor of war materiels to relent and allow Ukraine to launch missiles directly into Russia, in view of the destructive chaos that Russia has imposed on Ukraine. The situation itself is absurd, restraining an attacked nation from fully responding as is its right under international conditions of conflict, to the violence it is suffering.
President of the Kyiv School of Economics, Tymofiy Mylovanov, expressed disappointment that the missiles were to be used only in the Kursk region, characterizing the news of all restrictions being lifted as "too good to be true. I think the weakness of the Biden administration in facing up to Putin is the key reason why we are entering the third year of war", he stated.
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| Army Tactical Missile Systems (Atacms) can reach up to 300km (186 miles) and are tough to intercept due to their high speed White Sands Missile Range |
Labels: Russian Invasion of Ukraine, Russian Outrage, Ukrainian Counteroffensive, Ukrainian Targeting with Long-Range Missiles, US Supplied Weaponry
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, November 20, 2024
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