As the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine approaches its third winter, the biggest topic of debate is the reluctance among Kyiv’s key partners to sanction long-range attacks inside Russia using Western weapons. According to skeptics in Washington DC and elsewhere, deep strikes would pose an unacceptable risk and could spark a far wider war. In typical fashion, Russian President Vladimir Putin has exploited this Western fear of escalation.
The Kremlin dictator has recently vowed to lower the threshold for Russian nuclear strikes, and has warned that any long-range attacks on Russian territory would mean that NATO is “ at war ” with Russia. So far, Putin’s nuclear saber-rattling appears to be working. Despite extensive public and private lobbying, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy came away from his widely anticipated late September visit to the United States without having achieved a breakthrough.
Officials in Kyiv regard the current restrictions on attacks inside Russia as politically unjustified and militarily absurd. They argue that by preventing Ukraine from striking back, Western leaders are effectively protecting Putin’s war machine while forcing the Ukrainian military to fight with one hand tied behind its back. With little indication that Ukraine’s major allies are ready to change tack and allow the use of Western-supplied missiles inside Russia, it may be time to explore other options.
The most obvious solution would be to enhance Ukraine’s abi.
