figured this would be a nice article to share but no new news for active observers of the conflict
Ukraine’s frustration is growing by the day over restrictions that the Biden administration has imposed on the use of American-supplied weapons against targets inside Russia.
As Russia launched [massive missile and drone attacks](https://archive.ph/o/OBQiv/https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/08/29/even-as-it-humiliates-russia-ukraines-line-is-crumbling-in-the-donbas) on cities and energy infrastructure over two days last week (August 26th and 27th), Ukraine’s defence minister, Rustem Umerov, and President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, led a delegation to Washington as part of a fresh bid to get the policy changed. According to reports, the Ukrainian team was seeking permission to go after a specific number of high-value targets with American missiles.
Their mission is a direct response to the shifting excuses coming from the Pentagon and from national security officials about why the restrictions should hold while other supposed red lines have become blurred to the point of invisibility.
The reason given in the past for forbidding Ukraine from using American weapons against targets in Russia was that this could trigger an escalatory response from the Kremlin that would end up doing more harm to Ukraine and might even result in Russia resorting to nuclear weapons. However, that justification has become increasingly strained.Vladimir Putin’s nuclear sabre-rattling has been exposed as just that, while Russia has hardly held back in other ways. As Sir Lawrence Freedman, a military historian, says, the missile and drone attacks last week are part of a [systematic campaign](https://archive.ph/o/OBQiv/https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/08/18/russias-double-punch-back-against-ukraines-shock-raid) to make life as miserable as possible for ordinary Ukrainians this winter. “Russia,” he says, “wants hundreds of thousands to leave their homes, perhaps creating yet another refugee crisis in neighbouring European countries”.
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Disappointingly common Biden foreign policy L
figured this would be a nice article to share but no new news for active observers of the conflict
Ukraine’s frustration is growing by the day over restrictions that the Biden administration has imposed on the use of American-supplied weapons against targets inside Russia.
As Russia launched [massive missile and drone attacks](https://archive.ph/o/OBQiv/https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/08/29/even-as-it-humiliates-russia-ukraines-line-is-crumbling-in-the-donbas) on cities and energy infrastructure over two days last week (August 26th and 27th), Ukraine’s defence minister, Rustem Umerov, and President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, led a delegation to Washington as part of a fresh bid to get the policy changed. According to reports, the Ukrainian team was seeking permission to go after a specific number of high-value targets with American missiles.
Their mission is a direct response to the shifting excuses coming from the Pentagon and from national security officials about why the restrictions should hold while other supposed red lines have become blurred to the point of invisibility.
A blanket ban on hitting targets in Russia, for instance, was lifted in May, when Ukraine was told it could strike Russian troop concentrations on the other side of the border preparing to attack the city of Kharkiv. When, a month ago, the Ukrainians [crossed into Kursk](https://archive.ph/o/OBQiv/https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/08/08/ukraine-surprises-with-a-high-stakes-raid-into-russia), they took with them [himars](https://archive.ph/o/OBQiv/https://www.economist.com/europe/2022/06/14/america-sends-advanced-missiles-to-help-ukraine-fend-off-russia) missile batteries that were deployed against Russian forces called in to repel the invasion. No objections were raised in Washington.
The reason given in the past for forbidding Ukraine from using American weapons against targets in Russia was that this could trigger an escalatory response from the Kremlin that would end up doing more harm to Ukraine and might even result in Russia resorting to nuclear weapons. However, that justification has become increasingly strained.Vladimir Putin’s nuclear sabre-rattling has been exposed as just that, while Russia has hardly held back in other ways. As Sir Lawrence Freedman, a military historian, says, the missile and drone attacks last week are part of a [systematic campaign](https://archive.ph/o/OBQiv/https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/08/18/russias-double-punch-back-against-ukraines-shock-raid) to make life as miserable as possible for ordinary Ukrainians this winter. “Russia,” he says, “wants hundreds of thousands to leave their homes, perhaps creating yet another refugee crisis in neighbouring European countries”.