| Резюме: | Ukraine’s daring ground offensive has taken the fight to Russia, but not nearly as much as its leaders would like because, they say, the United States won’t let them. The U.S. restricts the use of long-range ballistic missiles it provides to Ukraine, which wants to aim them at military targets inside Russia. Ukraine’s offensive, along with a barrage of drones and missiles that Moscow launched this week, has intensified pressure on the Biden administration to ease its cautious approach to the use of Western weapons in escalating Ukrainian attacks. The Biden administration says its careful deliberations, including which advanced weapons it supplies to Ukraine and when, are necessary to avoid provoking retaliation from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Some analysts agree Putin would take a Ukrainian strike by an American long-range ballistic missile as an attack by the U.S. itself. But other American and European supporters of Ukraine say the White House should see that Putin’s threats of attacking the West, including with nuclear weapons, are bluster. Their fear is the U.S. support that has allowed Ukraine to withstand Russia’s 2022 invasion comes with delays and caveats that could ultimately contribute to its defeat. “This war is going to end exactly how Western policymakers decide it will end,” said Philip Breedlove, a retired U.S. general who led NATO in Europe from 2013 to 2016 and is among the retired U.S. military leaders and diplomats, Republican lawmakers, security analysts and others pushing for a loosening of restrictions on how Ukraine uses Western-provided weapons. “If we keep doing what we’re doing, Ukraine will eventually lose,” Breedlove said. “Because right now … we are purposely not giving Ukraine what they need to win.” Lifting such restrictions “would strengthen Ukrainian self-defense, save lives and reduce destruction in Ukraine,” European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell wrote Monday on the social platform X after Russia launched more than 200 missiles and drones at Ukraine. The next day, Russia launched 91 more. The push and pull is playing out during Ukraine’s surprise offensive into Russia’s southern Kursk region, the first ground invasion of Russia since World War II. Throughout the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has balanced copious thanks for U.S. support with frustrated appeals for more arms and ammunition. Upping the pressure this month, he again said Ukraine must fight the war as it sees fit with all the weapons at its disposal and appealed for the U.S. to drop a ban on using American long-range ATACMS missiles to strike deeper into Russia. “A sick old man from the Red Square, who constantly threatens everyone with the red button, will not dictate any of his red lines to us,” Zelenskyy said recently of Putin. The Biden administration this year allowed Ukraine to fire shorter-range U.S.-provided munitions across the border in self-defense, but not ATACMS. Ukraine’s defense minister, Rustem Umerov, and presidential adviser Andriy Yermak were coming to Washington this week to discuss the specific long-range military targets that Ukraine would like to hit in Russia, according to a person familiar with the plans. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to share the officials’ plans. Security analysts say Ukraine is using U.S.-provided HIMARS rocket systems in its offensive. Ukraine also announced it has used a U.S.-supplied glide bomb against Russian forces and deployed its own prototype […] |