The Russian Propaganda Attack on America
AtlanticSEP 13 2024
Sitting beside senior US defense officials at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy once again made his case that Ukraine should be able to use Western-provided missiles to strike targets deep into Russian territory on Friday.
Zelenskyy said: "We need to have this long-range capability, not only on the divided territory of Ukraine, but also on the Russian territory, so that Russia is motivated to seek peace. We need to make Russian cities and even Russian soldiers think about what they need: peace or Putin."
Last week, senior Ukrainian officials including Defense Minister Rustem Umerov travelled to Washington to make the same case. However, the US has been reluctant to provide authorization beyond current parameters; including allowing Ukrainian ATACMS strikes on Crimea and limited strikes on Russian regions bordering Ukraine.
Lifting Ukraine's restrictions on weapons would allow it to better to defend itself by striking Russian sites that launch missiles into Ukraine with impunity. This would help Ukraine's war effort, save Ukrainian lives and will push Putin to negotiate for peace.
The US needs to think long and hard about the decision on whether to allow Ukraine to strike Russia with long-range weapons. Ukraine knows the only way it can possibly win this conflict is by drawing in the US and UK into the fight and that's what it hopes to achieve by striking Russia with their weapons, even if it leads to the outbreak of World War III.