There is a woefully lacking sense of urgency from Washington and Brussels to provide Ukraine with the weapons and ammunition it needs to survive and ultimately defeat Russia.
President Joe Biden’s comments following Monday’s missile attack on Kiev are proof enough. He said:condemned the missile attackThe president described the incident as a “horrifying reminder of Russian brutality.” But how many times has a president said that? He went on to say, “Washington and our NATO allies will be announcing new steps this week to bolster Ukraine’s air defenses.”
this week?
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, nearly two and a half years ago. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for a no-fly zone since the start of the war, but the United States and NATO have been reluctant to consider it.
The need for no-fly zones is not new. Newsweek magazine had already reported on the need.He proposed establishing a no-fly zone “as a way to prevent further Russian bombings” in March 2022. Biden rejected the idea at the time, saying “a no-fly zone could lead to violence between the United States and Russia.”
Since then, multiple air defense systems have been gradually introduced into the battlefield and have achieved visible results, but the process of wartime action, reaction and countermeasures continues, with casualties for Ukrainian troops and civilians alike.
And now there is another response to the Russian actions, new measures to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses. These responses are killing Ukrainian civilians. And once they are in place, Russia will simply counter them and start the cycle again. But not until the civilian death toll has reached its maximum by the time the US and NATO have decided, funded, trained and finally deployed the new measures.
That was clearly demonstrated in Kiev on Monday.Kh-101The bombers that struck the children’s hospital were “designed to fly low and follow terrain to evade radar systems and disable air defense systems,” and Ukraine needs the ability to strike the airfields from which the bombers launch before they take off.
There is a saying in the military: “There are two kinds of people on the battlefield: those who live and those who die.” This is now playing out in real time before our eyes. Russia, despite its WWI meat grinder tactics, is learning and adapting away from the front lines faster than the US or NATO.
Biden’s speed and the NATO bureaucracy that follows him are an existential threat to Ukraine’s existence. Ukraine is under attack now and needs immediate relief. No more announcements full of empty platitudes.
Britain on Wednesday announced a newPrime Minister Keir StarmerUkraine continued the previous administration’s policy of using long-range weapons and reauthorized the use of Storm Shadow missiles to attack military targets inside Russia.
PolandThe U.S. is considering shooting down Russian missiles over Ukrainian territory, a proposal that drew immediate reaction from a National Security Council spokesman.John Kirby“We want to find ways to make Ukraine effective, but we don’t want escalation,” he told reporters.
Kirby continued, “It would not be good for the Ukrainians, it would not be good for the Poles, it would not be good for everybody else. We don’t want President Putin to claim that this war was instigated by NATO, that this is a war between Russia and the West or Russia and the United States.”
Just as then-candidate Ronald Reagan responded to President Jimmy Carter in the 1980 presidential debate by asking, “Here we go again?”, tensions are now escalating even further under the Biden administration.
The problem with the US’s previous action, authorizing limited ATACMS strikes on targets inside Russia, is that the White House is still giving Russian troops sanctuary on its own territory. Moscow is not going to waste a kilometer of distance conceded. Somehow, strikes on targets slightly further inside Russia that pose an immediate threat to Ukraine are seen by the White House as escalation, not defense.
On Monday morning, President Biden’s absurd rules of engagement restrictions against Ukraine allowed a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile air-launched from a Tupolev Tu-95 bomber to hit the Ukrainian capital.Okumadit Children’s HospitalAir strikes in Kiev. The results were devastating. The aftermath was horrifying.
The bomber that dropped the bomb is believed to have taken off from an airfield in Russia, possibly Engels Air Base No. 2.100km restricted areaThis was imposed on Ukraine by the Biden administration.
But that hasn’t yet had an impact on the Biden administration. Kirby told reporters Monday afternoon:US policy remains unchanged“Our policy has not changed. You saw a few weeks ago that the president gave instructions to Ukraine that it could use U.S.-supplied weapons to attack targets just beyond its borders. That remains the case today.”
Patriot missile surprise attack It was a brilliant innovation that the Ukrainian military adopted in their defense. Now the US has ruled it out as an option too. It was considered an offensive use of a weapons system and therefore an invitation to escalation. And at Biden’s insistence, Ukraine continues to fight with one arm tied behind its back.
We need more air defense systems. An integrated air defense system would be best. But what Ukraine really needs is to be able to strike Russian targets that are now threatening it — deep inside Russia, where the White House is giving Russia protection. Not missiles, but destroying weapons systems. That’s deterrence, not escalation. That’s action, a response to Russian missile attacks on Ukraine.
Putin continues to dominate the Ukrainian situation. The US and NATO are allowing Moscow to take the lead and forcing Ukraine to play the “mother may I” game when it comes to military response. This is not how you win a war.
Carl von Clausewitz“War is the continuation of politics by other means,” he wrote. As NATO leaders meet in Washington this week for their annual summit, those words ring true.
NATO must define and enforce red lines. This summit must be delivered in actions, not words, including a plan for victory and a path to NATO membership for Ukraine.
Biden’s complacency is the root cause of Russia’s success in Ukraine. It’s time for Biden to speak up and get Ukraine to stand up to Russia.
Colonel Jonathan Sweet (Ret.)He served as a military intelligence officer for 30 years and led U.S. European Command’s Intelligence Division from 2012 to 2014.Mark TothHe writes about national security and foreign policy.
