While Russia’s war on Ukraine progresses, the Biden administration has been supplying Ukraine with funds and weapons. However, the newest round of weapons could make tensions worse.
In an op-ed published by the New York Times on May 31, President Joe Biden clarified that the U.S. will now be sending advanced rocket systems and munitions.
This is all part of the broader $700 million weapons package for Ukraine. In addition to the rocket systems, the U.S. will also be sending Javelin anti-tank missiles, Stinger antiaircraft missiles, radars, unmanned aerial vehicles, Mi-17 helicopters and ammunition.
The issue with these new rocket systems is that it gives Ukraine the capacity and range to reach into Russian territory.
There has been intense debate over this, because the U.S. does not necessarily want to allow Ukraine to broaden the conflict, the Associated Press reported.
Trending:
“We don’t have an interest in the conflict in Ukraine widening to a broader conflict or evolving into World War Three. So we’ve been mindful of that,” said Colin Kahl, the defense undersecretary for policy, according to the AP. “But at the same time, Russia doesn’t get a veto over what we send to the Ukrainians.”
Biden flip-flopped on the decision this week.
On May 30, the president said that the U.S. would not send rocket systems that can reach into Russia, Reuters reported.
But then the administration reversed that position.
Do you think that Russia and Ukraine will reach a diplomatic end to the war?
However, a senior administration official said that they only agreed to send the more advanced and longer-range rockets once they had direct assurances from Ukraine’s leaders that they would not use them against targets within Russian territory, the New York Times reported.
Biden naively stated in his op-ed that these long-range rockets are just meant to help Ukraine on the battlefield.
“That’s why I’ve decided that we will provide the Ukrainians with more advanced rocket systems and munitions that will enable them to more precisely strike key targets on the battlefield in Ukraine,” Biden wrote.
It’s understandable that the U.S. doesn’t want Russia angered by having missile strikes going directly into Russia. That could potentially just escalate the war and make it longer and more violent.
But simply asking Ukraine for a promise to not fire missiles into Russia should not breed confidence.
Ukraine is under attack in a full-blown invasion. The country and its noncombatant civilians are in serious danger and under malicious pressure from Russia.
Thousands of Ukrainian civilians have been killed and injured, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported.
Cities have been destroyed and millions of Ukrainians have been displaced, the Washington Post reported.
If things keep getting worse so that Ukraine feels the need to strike back at Russia inside its own territories, what will really stop them? A pinky promise to the U.S.?
The situation already is getting worse as Russian forces are advancing again in eastern Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal reported.
If the administration really doesn’t want Ukraine possibly escalating the situation with rockets, then Biden shouldn’t have sent them at all.
To send Ukraine weapons that have the capability to really hurt Russia and then say, “Don’t use them to their full capacity. Instead watch Russians kill your people and destroy your homes,” is ridiculous.
Ukraine will probably end up using the rockets to target Russian territory.
Then the U.S. will have the even bigger problem of having provided the tools to poke the Russian bear.
If Russia’s eyes turn on the U.S., then this conflict and international tensions could really get out of hand.
There are just very few scenarios where sending Ukraine long range missiles does not eventually spiral into worse problems.
