The United States ignores Russian threats and increases support for Ukraine


By pooling arms supplies globally and asking Congress for an additional $33 billion to support UkraineWashington is choosing to ignore threats from Vladimir Putin to use nuclear weapons and instead is testing the limits of the Russian leader.

After Washington last week brought together 40 countries at a US base in Germany to discuss war aid Ukraine with RussiaPutin on Wednesday threatened a “lightning-quick” response if third parties intervene directly on kyiv’s behalf.

“For this we have all the tools that no one else can boast of having. We are not going to brag: we will use them, if necessary,” Putin said.

It was a thinly veiled reference to the nuclear weapons Russian tactics, which according to Russian military doctrine can be used to force an enemy to retreat.

Despite the Russian threat, the president of USA, Joe Bidenredoubled its support for Ukraine.

The $33 billion he asked for includes $20 billion for weapons and ammunition, nearly seven times the amount sent to Ukraine since the Russians invaded it on February 24.

No more hidden support

Early in the war, Washington was concerned that aggressively equipping the Ukrainian military with anything other than “defensive” weapons would risk involving USA Yet the NATO in direct conflict with Russia.

But now the Pentagon it dropped those inhibitions and is sending offensive weapons like heavy artillery, attack helicopters and drones.

And instead of hiding it, the Pentagon has also started talking openly about how it is training Ukrainian troops, including in Germany, to use the weapons they are receiving.

Instead of saying, as he did in February, that he just wants help ukraine to survive, Washington now claims that its goal is to weaken Russia in the long run.

“We want to see Russia weakened to the point where it can’t do the kinds of things it did by invading Ukraine,” said US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austinafter visiting kyiv last week.

Disdain threats from Moscow

Putin’s nuclear threat is being scorned by the Biden administration.

The president and senior officials called Moscow’s nuclear threats “irresponsible.”

“They are a display of Russia’s desperation at its abject failure to be able to do what it set out to do” in Ukraine, Biden said Wednesday.

A senior defense official noted Friday that while the Pentagon constantly monitors the russian nuclear force“we do not assess that there is a threat of use of nuclear weapons and there is no threat to NATO territory.”

Lawrence Freedmanemeritus professor at King’s College London, said there is no indication that Russia is preparing to use its nuclear weapons or chemicals in the Ukraine conflict.

“His threats are taken less seriously than before and he has nothing positive to offer. He is already a diminished power,” Freedman wrote on his blog.

This opinion is shared by Gideon Rose, of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

“Moscow will not use nuclear weapons during the conflict,” Rose said.

Putin “knows that there would be extraordinary retaliation and universal opprobrium, without any strategic advantage to justify it,” he said.

Although Biden has reiterated that US troops will not be directly involved in Ukraine, the surge in support has turned the conflict into a proxy war, Sam Winter Levy, a war specialist at Princeton University, wrote on the “War on Ukraine” website. the Rocks”.

“The West must be clear about the situation it faces. It is currently waging a proxy war with Russia, which poses very real risks of escalation,” he wrote.



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