Vladimir Zelenskyy: We Need the United States to End the War with Russia. Indications from the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine
“I don’t want to sound ungrateful. The help of the U.S. has still been invaluable. But it has not been enough to let us win the war,” he said. “I’m just thinking how many lives could be saved if those restrictions were lifted a year ago?”
Ukrainian soldier and historian Maksym Sviezhentsev, speaking near the frontline in Ukraine, said he wished the restrictions on ATACMS never existed in the first place and hopes the Trump administration will not revoke the authorization.
The policy shift comes just over two months before President-elect Donald Trump will return to the White House. Trump stated that he could end the war with Russia within 24 hours, though he hasn’t explained how.
The war began after Ukrainian forces invaded Russia’s Kursk region. The attack was viewed as a breakthrough for Ukraine and a setback for Russia. In October of this year, North Korea sent thousands of troops to help the Russians fight off the Ukrainian incursion.
Zelenskyy said that Russian President Vladimir Putin responds to strength. We need to be strong. He said that we need to force Russia to end the war, instead of talking to someone in Moscow.
Russia launched 210 missiles and drones at Ukraine on Sunday, Zelenskyy said, attacking the energy system and other critical infrastructure in what he described as one of Russia’s largest attacks in the war so far.
In his nightly video address on Sunday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s long-range strike capabilities will be key to its victory. There’s been talk in the media about us getting permission for our actions. They don’t carry out strikes with words. Such things are not announced. Missiles will speak for themselves.
A Capitol Hill source who isn’t authorized to speak publicly believes that the decision is unlikely to make a difference in the war because of the limited number of missiles and the use of drones.
The numbers of long range weapons inUkraine are limited since it already used them on targets inside its territory.
The UK is likely to allow the use of Storm Shadow missiles in Russia, according to a US official. It is possible for these missiles to travel 155 miles. The missiles have U.S. components and needed US approval.
The U.S. official, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the decision, said the U.S. is allowing Ukraine to use the weapons to target in and around Kursk — the same region where some 10,000 North Korean troops were recently deployed, according to the U.S. and its allies.
Acceding to Ukraine’s longstanding pleas for permission to fire American missiles into Russian territory may be the last thing President Biden can do for the Ukrainians — or on any other foreign front, for that matter — before leaving office. Biden resisted a policy shift because he thought it could lead to a confrontation with Russia, even though he knew it was in the interests of America.
There is an argument against NATO missiles being used in long-range strikes because Vladimir Putin has drawn a red line. The spokesman of the Kremlin said that the tension would escalate to a qualitatively new level. That does not mean World War III, as Donald Trump’s allies have shouted, but Russia will most likely feel compelled to retaliate against the United States and its allies in some way, probably asymmetrically and indirectly, further escalating the conflict.
He would have done it, because Russia was preparing to throw 10,000 North Korean troops into the war and had just launched its largest air attack on Ukraine in months.