The US has come up with a “strategy for Ukraine’s success” that does not involve deep strikes against Russia
25 June 2024 09:13
James O’Brien, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, spoke about the US administration’s vision of a “strategy for Ukraine’s success” in the war with Russia. He said this at a briefing in Washington, D.C., reports "Komersant Ukrainian" reports with reference to Ukrinform.
“When I talk about Ukraine’s success strategy now, I mean that we need to stop Russia’s attempts to break through in the east. And this is the first step to success,”
– he said.
In general, according to O’Brien, the three key elements of this strategy are:
- Stopping Russia’s advance in eastern Ukraine.
- Limiting Russia’s ability to use close fire lines.
- Preventing Ukraine’s economic losses.
In this context, O’Brien stressed the importance of providing Ukraine with air defence and other weapons:
“This can be achieved by providing Ukraine with sufficient air defence and other weapons to sustain its fight for a long period of time. Then there is a moment when Russia has to think about whether it can go further.”
The ultimate goal, according to the State Department representative, is for Ukraine to regain control of all of its internationally recognised territory.
As can be seen, paragraph 2 provides for restrictions on Russia’s use of only “close firing lines”, i.e. those border areas where strikes with US weapons have been authorised by the United States. according to the State Department official, “limiting” the “long-range”, i.e. striking deep into enemy territory, is not necessary for success.
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 generally prohibited.
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 allegedly able to strike at those facilities and territories from which attacks on Ukraine are directly directed, even if they are deeper than the border areas.
Experts say that border strikes will not change the situation at the front, so Zelenskyy is asking his partners for permission to use their weapons on Russian territory. Some Western countries have already given such permission.
A classic military strategy involves trying to move the fighting to the enemy’s territory as quickly as possible.
