The Biden administration is hesitant to give Ukraine the longer-range missiles it is asking for as Russia has warned providing such arms would make the US a party to the conflict.
Ukraine has asked the US for Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, which have a range of about 190 miles, significantly farther than anything Washington has provided Kyiv up to this point. The HIMARS rocket launch systems that the US has sent Ukraine are currently equipped with missiles that can hit targets up to 50 miles away.
The New York Times reported on Saturday that President Biden is resisting Ukraine’s calls to send the arms. The report cited senior aides to Biden who said the president was told by the Pentagon that the benefits of sending Ukraine the ATACMS would be minimal, leading him to conclude it wasn’t worth the risk of provoking Moscow.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has warned the US that sending longer-range missiles to Ukraine would cross a “red line” and make the US a “direct” party to the conflict. “Under such a scenario, we will be forced to respond appropriately,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
The US appears to have heeded the Russian warning, at least for now. NBC News reported that senior Pentagon officials are opposed to giving Ukraine the ATACMS and that the administration has held off on the request over fears it could provoke a dangerous response from Moscow. Military officials told NBC News that the US was afraid the ATACMS could be used to target Russian territory and provoke a wider war.
It’s possible the US could send Ukraine the ATACMS in the future as the administration has escalated its involvement in the conflict throughout the fighting. US officials told the Times that they recognize that Russian President Vladimir Putin would have likely pushed back if they had given Ukraine the support it receives today at the outset of the war.
A US official told reporters on Friday that sending the ATACMS is “not on the table at this time” but added that the battlefield dynamics can change and “as their needs evolve, the types of assistance evolves.”
There are so many ways that this situation could get out of control and we seem to be on the precipice…
Yes, from the above it appears the fools believe they have complete control.
Huh?
Amerikkka isn’t already “directly involved”?
And Amerikkka hasn’t “provoked Moscow”?
Sure we are somewhat involved, it is a chicken and egg question, with an egg breakfast the chicken is “involved” with chicken soup the chicken is “committed”
What a dumb ass analogy. Involved is involved. We are heavily involved to the point that there wouldn’t have been a war without our involvement. You can’t get much more involved than that.
No US casualties, some expenditure but much less than an average year in Afghanistan.
So, less involvement is no involvement? And those expenditures are less than the “average” year in Afghanistan but probably more than most years and we are only halfway done with year one.
Less involvement is less involvement. The Soviet Union shipped weapons to North Vietnam during the conflict but we avoided targeting their ships that were carrying cargo that would certainly kill American boys. So here we are training and equipping Ukraine but our troops are not involved.
Yes, less than an average year in Afghanistan where we were heavily involved. As were the Soviets in Vietnam. Plus, you failed to address our involvement of getting the whole thing started.
At the rate Russia is losing men and equipment, there isn’t going to be a year 2. Those poor slobs are going to start freezing pretty soon.
Good deflection. Hope your team wins.
“Military officials told NBC News that the US was afraid the ATACMS could be used to target Russian territory and provoke a wider war.”
These guys are brilliant. To deduce that Ukraine wants missiles that can travel 190 miles for the purpose of using them. Give them fuckers another star.
The Ukrainian Regime is spoiled rotten by the West.
https://russian.rt.com/ussr/news/1050526-vs-rossii-ceha-zavoda-iskra
The Russian Armed Forces destroyed the shops of the Iskra plant in Zaporozhye, where HIMARS MLRS were serviced
Oh well, no problem then
That is exactly what Zelensky wants. After cleaning out generals and security officers and media, his remaining loyal henchmen have called for NATO to go to war to save the regime, even though this would lead to millions dead.
When asked about WWIII, they repeat, “this is ALREADY World War III!”
That’s false, of course. But no one is allowed to question the Ukrainian leadership. And saying it’s not WWIII would be to say something somewhat nice about Russia, which can’t be allowed.
This is how radicalization works – speak in the direction that others on your side can’t question, because then they’d be seen as defending the other side.
Not giving Zelensky weapons he’d be certain to use against Russian cities is a rare sign of sanity. Let’s hope for more sanity once the midterms are over and the war fever doesn’t have to be stoked for ratings.
We are for sure questioning the Ukrainian leadership. We certainly don’t give them all they ask for. No, no fly zone at the beginning of the war, and now they don’t get our best longest range rockets. Still they are doing pretty good with what they have.
“We are for sure questioning the Ukrainian leadership.”
More like directing it. Now get back and fight with “what you have” and there will be no talk of diplomacy. We aren’t interested in Ukraine actually winning as much as we are about destroying Russia.
The US will eventually give long-range weapons to Ukraine. They won’t matter, but it will become increasingly obvious that Ukraine can’t possibly “win” this war and the US neocons will overrule the Pentagon and escalate again.
As Alexander Mercouris and others have said, the neocons “have no off switch” – they can only double down on their bad decisions.
Russia, of course, will not go directly to attacking US forces on either the US mainland or in Europe. But they will take more direct moves against US involvement in the war. We can only speculate what those might be, but Russia has a range of options.
It seems with some of these strikes the Ukraine does have some longer range missiles. They used to build Soviet ICBM’s so the IP is available to them.
Dmitry Shabanov was found guilty of high treason by the Supreme Court of the Luhansk People’s Republic. He was a security assistant at the Stakhanov patrol base of the OSCE mission and passed on secret military data to representatives of foreign intelligence services.
Maxim Petrov. He worked as an interpreter of the OSCE mission in the LPR. He was also found guilty of high treason and was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
The CIA were using the OSCE to pass on military data to NATO and the Kiev Junta. The OSCE had special access to the Donbass and they totally abused their peace mission to take sides in the civil war.
At the end of April, the LPR authorities banned the work of the OSCE monitoring mission in the republic.
“US Hesitant to Provide Ukraine With Longer-Range Missiles Russia has warned that providing Ukraine with longer-range weapons would make the US a party to the conflict”
Anyone one giving any weapons to Ukraine is a fool! Joey Biden is giving weapons to Ukraine!
US M777 howitzer massacre civilians in Donetsk. This is how the US and NATO ‘bring democracy’ to the Donbass, they arm Nazi’s to massacre ethnic Russian civilians.
In response to this last massacre on a market place (keep in mind these are highly accurate weapons, ie they were targeting woman and children), both the LNR and DNR have asked to be incorporated into the Russian Federation.
“In response to this last massacre on a market place (keep in mind these are highly accurate weapons, ie they were targeting woman and children), both the LNR and DNR have asked to be incorporated into the Russian Federation.”
They’ve been asking to be incorporated into the Russian Federation for eight years now.
The sudden urgency to vote in both Luhansk and Donetsk would give Russia legitimacy to annex. Once annexed, attacks like this would be labeled “terrorist” attacks. That would legitimize full a scale military intervention.
I think Putin still hopes to avoid targeting civilians. He must also ask himself if widening the war would play into Biden’s effort to bankrupt Russia. But he might not have a lot of options if we waits much longer.
And for 8 years Russia has refused their request and here is why……………The Donbass held the balance of power in Ukraine. Obama planned to ethnically cleanse the Donbass to ensure his racist Nazi regime could stay in power.
New Nazi meaning. Lash out at the Kremlin and you are a Nazi.
https://youtu.be/Oh2nnejPN7g
Biden should not send Ukraine ATACMS. He should work on ending the war but is working on escalating it. He wants to be seen as being tough and is more interested in being re-elected than avoiding catastrophes.
I haven’t changed my opinion about Biden’s strategy. He wants to keep Ukraine fighting in order to weaken Russia. If he gives them too much, they potentially win and the fighting stops. If he gives them too little, they potentially lose and the fighting stops. Either way, his goal is defeated.
I agree. If Biden didn’t want a second term he’d be working towards a Noble Peace Prize by trying to end the war against Russia with diplomacy.
Putin is talking tonight. My thought is we are doing more than “maintenance”, that we have provided improvements to weapons so as to extend their range. My guess is that we have crossed the Rubicon, Putin knows it, and I fear full mobilization is on its way and/ or there will be action by Russian military to cut off avenues of entry for weapons, sea, land, air. I don’t feel safe. At all.
Some news stories on a speech he’s supposed to give tonight say he’s likely to order full mobilization. The Duma just passed legislation increasing penalties for desertion and refusal to fight, and the “please annex us referendums” in the occupied areas are apparently a go.
I’m beginning to wonder if Putin didn’t receive American military strategy training, particularly the Army War College’s main course, If You Fuck Up, Keep Doubling Down 101.
Some news stories on a speech he’s supposed to give tonight say he’s likely to order full mobilization. The Duma just passed legislation increasing penalties for desertion and refusal to fight, and the “please annex us referendums” in the occupied areas are apparently a go.
I’m beginning to wonder if Putin didn’t receive American military strategy training, particularly the Army War College’s main course, If You Fuck Up, Keep Doubling Down 101.
Some news stories on a speech he’s supposed to give tonight say he’s likely to order full mobilization. The Duma just passed legislation increasing penalties for desertion and refusal to fight, and the “please annex us referendums” in the occupied areas are apparently a go.
I’m beginning to wonder if Putin didn’t receive American military strategy training, particularly the Army War College’s main course, If You Fuck Up, Keep Doubling Down 101.