Ukraine, NATO pressuring US to allow missile strikes on Russia
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Ukrainian officials have been increasingly pressuring the United States to allow Kiev to strike Russian territory using their missiles.
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In this image provided by the US Army, a US soldier adjusts the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) for loading onto the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) at Williamson Airfield in Queensland, Australia, on July 26, 2023. (AP)
The Ukrainian armed forces have since the start of the war been using US equipment to strike Russian targets, which Moscow has been condemning for years as an extension of US aggression on Russia, asking that Washington halt arms exports to Ukraine before it goes too far.
So far, US equipment in and of itself has only been used to attack Russian military positions in the areas that Moscow retook from Ukraine and within which it has advanced and set up camp. While there had been aggression here and there on Russian territory, it has not been found that any US weapons were used in such attacks, The New York Times claimed.
Ukraine has been escalating its blows, however, including what it did this past week when it used an Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) to launch three attacks on an air-defense system and missile ship in southwestern Russia, NYT wrote.
Ukraine is aspiring to disrupt Russia's defenses and affect its supply lines with such attacks, believing it would help lift some pressure off the Ukrainian soldiers on the battlefront, and as it goes, the deeper one is able to strike the supply chain, the more disruptive and destructive the attacks become, and that is exactly why Kiev has been attempting to pressure its Western allies, principally the United States, to allow it to strike within Russian territory.
The West has only given Ukraine the green light to strike the Donbass Republics using their weapons, fearing that any attacks deep within Russia have a chance of further escalating the war.
Russian advantage
Ukraine, while demanding it be permitted to strike deep within Russian territory, is complaining that this policy allows Russia to take whichever military measures it wishes without risk, leaving Kiev unable to repel them, NYT correspondent Constant Meheut said.
"They proceed calmly, understanding that our partners do not give us permission" to attack them, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told NYT in an interview. "This is their huge advantage," he argued.
NATO, in fact, has joined in, also requesting that Kiev be permitted to strike inside Russia, stressing that Ukraine being denied "the possibility of using these weapons against legitimate military targets on Russian territory makes it very hard for them to defend themselves."
The United States has been quite wary of provoking Russia, and with Ukraine unable to produce its own long-range weapons, it would have to use Western arms, and Russia has been persistently saying that it would see Kiev using a third country's weapons to strike deep within its territory an act of aggression by said third country.
Still with that to take into mind, and with the US proclaiming that it did not want to poke the Russian bear, it gave Ukraine last year the 300 km-range ATACMS after having given them the 160 km version, which would allow Ukraine to strike Russian territory.
While the US has been discouraging the use of the weapons to strike behind Russian lines, Kiev has been using them in that manner, attacking Russian logistics and command posts away from the battlefield - this is not to mention the Ukrainian attacks targeting Russian infrastructure and civilian areas, most notable in Crimea.
Attacks on Crimea
Russia confirmed in late April it had shot down six US-supplied tactical missiles launched by Ukrainian forces, with officials in Crimea saying some were downed over the Black Sea peninsula.
A week earlier, the United States said it had sent Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles to Ukraine in February. But Kiev has been asking for more powerful weapons for months as it struggles to contain advancing Russian forces.
The Russian Defense Ministry announced its forces had destroyed six Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) rockets "in the last 24 hours," without saying where they were shot down.
"Ten Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, six ATACMS tactical missiles manufactured by the United States and two guided 'Hammer' aircraft bombs manufactured by France were shot down by air defenses," the Ministry said.
The head of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said one of the missiles was downed in the village of Donskoye, outside the main city of Simferopol.
