US warns Ukraine about using NATO weapons to attack Russian territory
If Ukraine uses NATO-supplied weapons to attack inside Russian territory, this could cause a split in the military alliance and escalate the conflict.
The United States and its allies have informed Ukraine of the risk of escalation if Western-supplied weapons are used to attack targets inside Russia, Reuters reported on May 26, citing unnamed officials.
Behind-the-scenes discussions “sought to reach a common understanding of the risk of escalation,” Reuters sources said.
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| The M777 howitzer is one of the weapons the US has provided to Ukraine. Photo: US Marine Corps |
“We are concerned about escalation but we still don’t want to put geographic restrictions or tie their hands too much with what we are providing them,” one of the three US officials told Reuters.
Douglas Lute, a retired US Army lieutenant general and former US ambassador to NATO, said that if the Ukrainian army attacked deep inside Russia, “it would cause a split in the alliance. Of course, the alliance does not want that and neither does Ukraine.”
According to Reuters, the Biden administration is considering providing Ukraine with multiple rocket launchers such as the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), which could theoretically be used to strike deep into Russian territory.
Less than an hour after the information was posted, a Ukrainian official asked countries to provide HIMARS to the country.
“We urgently need M270 MLRS or M142 HIMARS to save the lives of Ukrainian soldiers. The US has 2,000 MLRS in its army and in reserves. If they provide us with just 200 of them, we will stop the [Russian] offensive in [Donbass],” Anton Geraschenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, said on Twitter.
Concerns about the risk of escalation if Ukraine uses Western-supplied weapons to strike inside Russia contrast with previous public comments by other US and NATO officials.
Speaking in the Senate on April 27, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it was up to Ukraine to decide whether to attack Russia. Earlier, British Minister for the Armed Forces James Heappey said that Ukraine's targeting deep inside Russia was "entirely legal". Russia then warned that such an action would "immediately lead to a proportionate response"./.
