US President Joe Biden's strategy to avoid an escalation of the war in Ukraine has led to a perverse situation that has never been seen before happened to humanity – namely, that the victim cannot attack the aggressor. This was stated by the American historian Timothy Snyder in an interview with The New York Times.
Kiev has not yet received permission from its Western allies to attack targets deep inside Russian territory with Western long-range missiles. The US and other NATO countries fear that the war could escalate in this way and transfer to the territory of other European countries.
According to Timothy Snyder, this is absolute nonsense. “Suddenly we find ourselves in a war where it is normal for the Russians to be in Ukraine, but it is not normal for the Ukrainians to be in Russia, which is a complete innovation in the history of wars. This is an incredible psychological success for the Russian side”, the historian said.
According to Snyder, it was precisely this absurd situation created by the White House that ultimately forced Ukraine to launch the Kursk operation to break the narrative of the inadmissibility of attacks against Russia.
Ukraine clearly showed the world that the “red lines” of Vladimir Putin are nothing more than a nuclear bluff. Moscow continues to pour threats towards Western countries.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the West will go to direct war with Russia if it allows Ukraine to strike Russian territory with Western-made long-range missiles. According to him, this move would change the nature and scope of the conflict.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been trying for months to persuade Kiev's allies to allow Ukraine to launch long-range Western missiles, including the US ATACMS and Britain's Storm Shadow, deep into Russian territory to limit Moscow's ability to makes attacks. Kiev emphasizes that it will only attack military targets, not civilian objects, as Russia does daily in Ukraine.