- cross-posted to:
- nytimes@rss.ponder.cat
- cross-posted to:
- nytimes@rss.ponder.cat
President Biden has refused to allow Ukraine to use long-range Western missiles on Russian military targets, but he appears to be wavering.
A deadly uptick of Russian guided glide bombs slamming into Ukrainian cities — as many as 800 in a single week this summer — has injected new urgency into a long-running debate over whether Ukraine should be allowed to launch missiles supplied by the West at military targets deep in Russian territory.
Amid signs that President Biden is wavering, the issue will be on the table when he meets in Washington on Friday with Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain, after the two leaders dispatched their top diplomats to Kyiv on Wednesday to hear out the latest pleas from Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ukraine has for months asked to use Western long-range weapons to attack more of the military sites that Russia uses to launch missiles and house the warplanes that drop the large, free-fall glide bombs that are wreaking havoc on Ukrainian forces and cities.
Ukrainian plan of only striking military targets inside Russia is in my opinion enough.
Russia will use Electronic Warfare that will probably cause civilian deaths. But you have to contrast this with the Russian practice of hitting civilian targets on purpose. Like the recent hit on a children’s hospital.
Realistically allowing Ukraine to hit listed Russian military targets will not cripple Russia. But it will IMHO push them towards real negotiations.