Sending Ukraine long-range weapons: US-NATO crawling on thin ice

By Simplicius

First let’s clear up the nuances to this report. Some believe the decision has already been made and the media is merely trotting out its regular theater to warm up the public. But the other missed detail is two-fold:

First the US apparently wants Ukraine to demonstrate a tangible plan for how it would utilize these ‘deep strikes’ to actually achieve victory, rather than merely some vague psychological effect.

And for this precise reason, Zelensky is traveling to the US to present his plan, which some sources have claimed has three points, which I outlined last time, but as reminder:

    1. Zelensky wants the US to allow long-range strikes into Russia with foreign missiles to destroy all military bases, airfields, ammunition and fuel depots within the European part of Russia.

    2. The West (US/NATO) must protect Western Ukraine with Polish and Romanian air defense systems from Russian retaliation strikes so Ukraine could transfer own air defense systems closer to the battlefield.

    3. The West must guarantee to be prepared to get more involved by sending ground troops to certain parts of Ukraine to free up Ukraine's manpower which could be sent to the front lines. Zelensky believes after this campaign Russia would be forced to retreat, at some point Putin's leadership would be destabilized and replaced, with the new leadership signing a peace deal. 

    Putin: The FULL Statement on the "permission" by US and UK for long range Western missiles attacking the territory of the Russian Federation:

    "There is an attempt to substitute concepts. Because we are not talking about allowing or prohibiting the Kiev regime to strike at Russian territory. It is already striking with the help of unmanned aerial vehicles and other means. But when it comes to using high–precision long-range Western-made weapons, it's a completely different story. 

The fact is that, as I have already said, and any experts will confirm this (both here and in the West), the Ukrainian army is not able to strike with modern high-precision long-range systems of Western production. It can't do that. This is possible only with the use of satellite data, which Ukraine does not have — this is data only from satellites of either the European Union or the United States, in general, from NATO satellites. This is the first one. The second, and very important, perhaps key, is that flight missions to these missile systems can, in fact, only be carried out by military personnel of NATO countries. Ukrainian servicemen cannot do this. 

And therefore, it is not a question of allowing the Ukrainian regime to strike Russia with these weapons or not to allow it. It's about deciding whether NATO countries are directly involved in a military conflict or not. If this decision is made, it will mean nothing more than the direct participation of NATO countries, the United States, and European countries in the war in Ukraine. This is their direct involvement. And this, of course, significantly changes the very essence, the very nature of the conflict. This will mean that NATO countries, the United States, and European countries are at war with Russia. And if this is the case, then, bearing in mind the change in the very essence of this conflict, we will make appropriate decisions based on the threats that will be created to us."  

~ See more on this story here and here