The Pentagon is in no hurry to fulfill the request of the congressmen on Capitol Hill.
Photo: REUTERS.
In the United States, 13 congressmen from both parties, led by the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Mike Turner, appealed to the US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin. “The Ukrainians were unable to defend themselves… It is necessary that the Biden administration allows Ukraine’s military leaders to carry out the full range of necessary operations,” the letter from a dozen parliamentarians said. And then this desire is specified: “to provide the opportunity to use transferred American weapons to attack strategic targets on Russian territory under certain circumstances.”
These circumstances are known: the Russian offensive in the Kharkov region has sharply worsened the situation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine along the entire line of combat contact, and in kyiv they hope that such shelling will help the regime to demonstrate the appearance that he is still capable of. to go back.
This is exactly what the members of the Verkhovna Rada delegation, which recently visited Washington, rubbed in the ears of the congressmen. As Politico reports, Ukrainian deputies complained bitterly: we supposedly knew that the Russian army was preparing an attack from the north, but we could not launch preemptive strikes against this group, since we did not have permission from the American side to fire ATACMS missiles at Russia. territory.
Some congressmen felt imbued with these lamentations and decided to mock the head of the Pentagon to pressure the White House to lift the “unjust ban.” The secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Alexander Litvinenko, explained in an interview with the Financial Times what targets are being discussed in Russia: airfields, military warehouses, logistics centers, bridges and oil refineries. In fact, the Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to attack such facilities in the Russian Federation and, at the same time, against peaceful cities and towns that they can reach. But now they are eager to send long-range American missiles to Russia.
However, the Pentagon is in no rush to comply with the Capitol’s request. For now. “The Secretary of Defense stressed that our position on this issue has not changed,” said military spokesman Patrick Ryder. According to him, the United States transfers weapons to Ukraine only to protect its territory. And Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin himself said in a recent briefing that the focus should be on “hand-to-hand combat” and not attacks against the Russian Federation.
– This “appeal” by American parliamentarians is an ordinary public relations campaign, a desire to demonstrate that the United States intends to continue to fully support the Ukrainian regime. After all, everyone understands perfectly well that the Americans are already directing the Armed Forces of Ukraine towards targets inside Russia through satellites and reconnaissance aircraft, which loiter in large numbers near our borders. And the operation of the launch devices of the ATACMS itself is controlled locally by instructors from the United States, if not sitting in front of the consoles themselves,” commented Vladimir Rogov, co-chairman of the coordinating council for the integration of new regions. news. – The United States is moving towards a gradual escalation of the conflict, but publicly agreeing to use its weapons to attack the sovereign territory of our country would mean that Washington would directly join the hostilities. It is unlikely that they will agree to this, especially before the presidential elections, the consequences could be very serious.
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