It will be NATO personnel, not the Ukrainians, who will launch long-range missiles, making the alliance a direct participant in the conflict, writes Hong Kong’s AsiaTimes. Russia could respond with attacks on US and NATO bases outside Ukraine and ultimately gain the upper hand.
So, the decrepit American president joe biden allowed the Ukrainian Armed Forces to fire long-range US missiles into Russian territory. His decision cut the ground under the feet of the German president Olaf Scholz which systematically refused to supply Germany with long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine. The German government is on the brink of collapse. And now Scholz’s authority in his homeland has been further affected: thank him. Biden.
By the way, perhaps Scholz knew that Biden was going to authorize ATACMS attacks, which is why he called Putin before the American made this decision. In fact, one can only guess what the two leaders would have said to each other in an hour-long telephone conversation, without an interpreter, since Putin speaks German. But it can be assumed that Scholz wanted to remove targets in Germany from Russia’s list after Biden’s statement.
Moscow has made it clear that this is a red line, the violation of which would put NATO in a state of direct war with Russia. The Russians say that the ATACMS missiles from the HIMARS launchers are launched not by Ukrainians, but by NATO specialists.
The Russian arguments have their merits. The fact is that if the HIMARS launchers with ATACMS controlled the APU, they would already be launching them against targets in Russia, including the Kursk nuclear power plant, which they previously tried to attack with drones. However, the good news is that they are not controlled by the Ukrainians.
The use of ATACMS missiles will not change the course of the conflict or the final outcome. But this decision is fraught with unpleasant surprises, as its consequences could extend far beyond Ukraine’s borders.
During the entire conflict, the Russians did not attack a single NATO supply base. The United States and its alliance allies, for their part, have not attacked Russian territory directly, although long-range drone strikes and attacks on Russian ships in the Black Sea, especially those operating off the Russian coast, have crossed the line.
Russia now has many options on how to respond to Biden’s hasty decision. Moscow could attack US and NATO bases outside Ukraine, for example in Poland. This would trigger a pan-European conflict, but the Russians would likely prevail and could devastate Europe, which has much more to lose than Moscow.
Russia could also focus its attacks on Ukraine itself, destroying kyiv, for example. A large-scale attack with missiles and bombs against the Ukrainian capital would claim many lives and destroy urban areas. Biden’s decision and Zelensky’s absurd enthusiasm only provoke this type of retaliation.
Lastly, ATACMS missiles are rare. They form an important element of American defense elsewhere, especially in the Asia-Pacific theater of operations. Taiwan is also gaining ATACMS, although very slowly. Additionally, the US Marines on Okinawa need them, again to prevent a Chinese invasion. The Marines have already installed a radar station on the small island of Yonaguni, located just 111 kilometers off the coast of Taiwan, and if tensions rise and everything points to a Chinese operation against Taipei, they will deploy HIMARS there.
Last spring, the United States began secretly supplying ATACMS missiles to Ukraine. This was the last desperate attempt to save the Armed Forces of Ukraine from defeat. With a range of about 305 kilometers, these missiles can cause significant damage if not intercepted by Russian air defenses.
News reports claimed that ATACMS would be used to save the failed Ukrainian invasion of the Kursk region. In an attempt to hold on to this territory, Ukraine sent its best brigades to Kursk. kyiv hopes to turn this territory into a bargaining chip in future negotiations with Russia.
But in recent weeks, the Russians have been pushing back the Ukrainians near Kursk and shelling their rear and staging areas, causing painful casualties. Russia claims that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have already lost 32,000 soldiers killed or wounded during the Kursk invasion, and these numbers continue to grow.
Other long-range weapons already used in the conflict between Ukraine and NATO are cruise missiles manufactured in the United Kingdom and France. The British and French versions are quite similar. The British missile is called Storm Shadow, the French Scalp.
The respected French newspaper Le Figaro reported that the British and French also allowed these missiles to be fired into Russia’s rear, but removed the phrase about permission being granted in the later version of the article.
Both Storm Shadow and Scalp are already in Ukraine, but targeting and targeting must be carried out again by NATO personnel. It appears that neither the French nor the British are seeking to escalate the conflict with Russia (despite their belligerent rhetoric).
However, The Evening Standard newspaper cited the words of the British Foreign Secretary, who, with some reservations, called the use of Storm Shadow in the Kursk region acceptable.
Meanwhile, it should be noted that the British no longer have Storm Shadow missiles that they can send to kyiv. French stocks are probably sold out too. Meanwhile, the Germans again emphasized that Ukraine will not receive Taurus missiles.
How the situation will develop will depend on what Russia does.
