Ukraine should not hit some objects even in the occupied territories – Le Monde
13 September 2024 10:19
While Ukraine is banging its head against the Western wall in the hope of getting permission to strike deep into Russia, it turned out that we are not even allowed to hit all the targets in the occupied territories. This is stated in the material of the French edition of Le Monde, reports "Komersant Ukrainian"
“In particular, it turned out that our Western allies were very unhappy with the strike on Russian early warning radars for nuclear launches in Crimea. This happened in June of this year.
Earlier, in May, Ukraine struck such radars located on the territory of the Russian Federation in the Orenburg region and Krasnodar Territory. At the time, the US was very concerned about this strike. They said that these facilities were not involved in the Russian war against Ukraine, but were sensitive locations, as Russia might believe that its strategic nuclear forces were being targeted. In other words, the US then became concerned about whether Ukraine had crossed the ‘red lines’. The Ukrainian side claimed that these facilities were directly used in the war against Ukraine, so they were legitimate and even necessary military targets.
However, according to Le Monde, Ukraine’s allies did not like the similar strikes on the same radars and a space communications centre in Crimea in June 2014. Despite the fact that Crimea is the territory of Ukraine, the West called this strike a “mistake”.
“For example, in June, they struck a Russian military base with radars… and a space communications centre in Crimea. One of the strikes was carried out using ATACMS.Despite the fact that some restrictions on the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been lifted, the targets that Ukraine can hit with Western long-range missiles remain strictly defined, regardless of the territory targeted,”
– le Monde writes.
This is consistent with the information that Ukraine’s Defence Minister Rustem Umerov and the head of the Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak, travelled to the United States with a list of targets they want to hit on Russian territory. Obviously, this list must be approved by the US.
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Blinken’s visit
on 11 September, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken visited Kyiv with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy. In Ukraine, they were expected to authorise the use of US and British weapons against targets deep inside Russia.
According to The Guardian, Britain has granted Ukraine such permission, albeit unofficially.
The US, according to Bloomberg, is demanding that Zelenskyy present a plan for strikes against Russia before lifting the restrictions. According to some media reports, Blinken is supposedly going to present the information received from Zelenskyy to US President Joe Biden.
Western weapons and permits for their use
As is well known, the United States(and Germany after them) allow the use of weapons provided by them only for strikes on the border territories of Russia. This permission was granted by US President Joe Biden only at the end of May, and before that, strikes on Russian territory with US weapons were prohibited altogether.
However, towards the end of June, the US side unofficially stated that the restrictions “do not apply to geography or a certain radius”. This means that Ukraine is supposedly able to strike at those sites and territories from which attacks on Ukraine are directly directed, even if they are deeper than the border areas. But now it has emerged that this may also mean that Ukraine is not allowed to strike certain targets even in the occupied territories.
According to experts, border strikes will not change the situation at the front, so Zelenskyy is asking his partners for permission to use their weapons to strike Russian territory. Some Western countries have already given such permission.
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