The Biden-Harris administration has approved an additional $800 million in weapons for Ukraine, the better for that nation to fight against the barbarian’s coming assault on Ukraine’s Donbas region. In conjunction with that, Biden-Harris has moved to increase the level and quality of intelligence shared with Ukraine, the better for the latter to target Russian forces after they’ve broken into Ukraine.
However.
The US, however, will refrain from providing intelligence that would enable the Ukrainians to strike targets on Russian territory under the new policy, a constraint Washington has imposed to reduce the risk of broadening the conflict, US officials added.
This is a continued mischaracterization of the situation, a continued misconstrual that is deadly to Ukrainian civilians, women, children, medical facilities.
The “conflict,” to use Biden-Harris’ carefully vapid term, is already broadened. Russian territory is already a part of the conflict. Aside from the bare fact that Russia is the belligerent in this Putin War, Russian territory is being openly used to assemble, supply, and stage forces that will be used to assault a sovereign nation’s territory.
The Belgorod region just 25 miles from the Ukraine-Russia border north of Kharkhiv, for instance, is a major supply and staging area for Russian units organizing for a spring assault on the Kharkhiv-Izyum region in the northern Donbas. That area, thus, would be a lucrative target that, if struck, would severely disrupt Putin’s planned assault.
Withholding that cross-border intelligence has even worse outcomes. It denies the Ukraine’s ability to know where the Russian units are gathering at their Lines of Departure, so the withholding denies the Ukrainians the ability to anticipate Russian axes of attack, which in turn denies the Ukrainians the ability to prepare their own responses for when those attacks roll. Which, despicably, only runs up friendly force casualty rates and friendly force equipment loss rates.
Denying the Ukrainians knowledge of those gatherings at those Lines of Departure also denies the Ukrainians the ability to launch spoiling attacks–ideally done by air (armed drones, helicopters, the aircraft they have still)–against those Lines to weaken, delay, possibly preempt the attacks before they start.
In no way can any part of Russia be given functional sanctuary status. Except in the fearful imaginations of Biden-Harris and his cronies.