Oman Daily Observer

Permission to fire into Russia buoys Ukraine

For weeks Ukrainian officials had cited the need to remove the shackles on their commanders as they appealed to allies to allow a more effective defence, using Western weaponry. That consent finally came in a significan­t way on Thursday when the United States amended its policy after months of resistance, saying Ukraine could use Us-provided weapons to hit military targets in Russia.

The shift is narrow in scope, granting Ukraine permission to use US air defence systems, guided rockets and artillery to fire into Russia only along Ukraine’s northeaste­rn border. Fighting has been raging there near the city of Kharkiv for the past three weeks after Russian troops poured over the border to open a new front in the war.

But hitting targets with US weapons inside Russia had been a red line drawn by the Biden administra­tion because of worries about escalation into a broader conflict. Ukrainian officials tried to assuage that fear by framing the use of Western weapons as a purely defensive tactic, pointing out how Russia has been launching missiles and gathering forces in the safety of its own territory, out of range of Ukraine’s Soviet-era weaponry.

Indeed, in granting permission, US officials said the weapons should be used only in self-defence in the border region.

The peril to civilians near the border was underscore­d once again on Friday when a Russian missile tore into an apartment block in Kharkiv in the early morning, killing three people and wounding two dozen more, including a medic and a police officer, regional officials said.

Ukraine hopes the reversal in policy will be pivotal in helping it regain its footing in a war that Russia is now dominating. It was a historic moment for the United States as well: It appeared to be the first time an American president had allowed the limited use of US weapons to strike inside the borders of a nuclear-armed adversary.

At a news conference in Sweden, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine called the decision “a step forward” to the goal of defending “our people who live in the villages through the borderline.”

Lt Denys Yaroslavsk­y, a Ukrainian intelligen­ce officer, said he had met on Friday with fellow commanders who felt buoyed by the Biden administra­tion’s decision. He said his understand­ing was that Ukraine had permission to launch strikes stretching to about 24 miles inside Russia.

This range, he said, will allow Ukraine to hit garrisons for Russian troops, logistics hubs for weaponry and ammunition depots but not the airstrips Russia uses to send bombers headed towards Ukraine, which are farther from the border. A number of weapons systems from Nato allies, including M777 howitzers from the United States, are already positioned within range of Russian territory, he said.

Speaking on Friday afternoon, Yaroslavsk­y declined to clarify if Ukraine had already opened fire into Russia.

Other officers also welcomed the decision. “Do the Ukrainian defence forces know from where the occupier is attacking Kharkiv?” said Col Yurii Ihnat, a Ukrainian air force officer, referring to the launch sites of missiles across the border in Russia. “Obviously, we do,” he said in a text message, noting that until now Ukraine had been unable to strike back.

Russian officials have been proclaimin­g all week that Nato countries risk escalation if they provide Ukraine greater freedom to shoot into Russia. On Friday, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokespers­on, claimed Ukraine had earlier in the war fired US weapons into Russia and “it proves the extent to which the US is involved in this conflict.”

With nearly every new Western weapon system delivered in a show of support for Ukraine’s war effort, Russia has threatened ominous consequenc­es for the West, though so far it has not delivered any.

Bending to Russian threats of escalation, said Col Roman Kostenko, the chair of the defence and intelligen­ce committee in Ukraine’s parliament, would only signal “weakness” by Europe and the United States. That would surely be noticed in other contexts in the world, he said, including the tensions between China and Taiwan.

He said the policy shift was needed to deter attacks elsewhere along the Ukrainian border. Russia could swiftly mass troops at any point, he said, and “it’s important to hit them before they cross.”

Ukrainian officials had said allowing the use of Western weaponry could help turn the tide of the fighting along the border and defend against attacks on Kharkiv, whose city centre is just 24 miles from Russia, by hitting missile launchers and airplanes inside Russian territory.

Officials in Britain, France, Poland and Sweden had already voiced support for the use of their countries’ weapons to strike inside Russia before the Biden administra­tion shifted its stance, and Nato Secretaryg­eneral Jens Stoltenber­g had spoken in favour of allowing Ukraine to use weapons from members of the alliance to strike targets within Russia

Ukraine has been striking targets deeper in Russian territory with a homegrown fleet of long-range exploding drones. The US weapons will help Ukraine’s army in the ground fighting north of Kharkiv and Ukraine’s air defence forces in defending the city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials said before the announceme­nt in Washington.

Ukrainian officials tried to assuage that fear by framing the use of Western weapons as a purely defensive tactic, pointing out how Russia has been launching missiles and gathering forces