Heavy battle in the east! The Pentagon forced the Ukrainian military to fight with its hands tied against the Russians

The US is forcing Ukraine to fight against Russia with its hands tied, writes The Economist.

The publication recalls that on September 13 there were hopes that Ukraine would finally receive permission to use British and French Storm Shadow/SCALP cruise missiles against targets in Russia. US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke for two hours at the White House, and many thought the American leader would finally give his go-ahead.

"But after the meeting, the situation remained as uncertain as the policy of limiting the use of long-range Western systems to targets in Ukraine had not changed,”, the article said.

The publication also cited the former commander of US forces in Europe, Ben Hodges, as supporting Kiev in this endeavour.

"There is no moral or legal reason not to achieve these goals,” says the military.

In turn, former US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker claims that the US is exaggerating Putin's threats.

"They're meant to 'prevent us from taking action, not make it relevant to what he's actually going to do,'" Volcker says.

The authors predict that Putin's use of tactical nuclear weapons can never be completely ruled out. Also, if Biden softens his stance after the meeting with Zelensky, it is unlikely that there will be an official announcement to allow Kiev to attack targets in the Russian Federation, instead this decision may be a non-public one.