Washington is absorbing the impact of Ukraine’s lightning assault into Russia’s Kursk region as the scale of President Zelensky’s bold gamble emerges.
US officials are assessing how the incursion might reshape the political and military dynamics of the war, as well as the implications for Washington’s long-shifting stance on how Ukraine can use American-supplied arms.
The stunning raid, catching both Russian and apparently Western leaders by surprise, highlights one of the riskiest dilemmas for the Western-backed defence of Ukraine: President Biden has consistently tried to empower Kyiv to push back Russia’s invasion without risking an American escalation with Moscow.
As President Putin has always tried to portray the conflict as a war between Russia and the West, Mr Biden has sought to put clear limits on US policy to deflate that narrative and prevent a conflagration.
But Ukraine’s Kursk assault – the largest incursion into Russia by a foreign military since World War Two, according to military analysts – has raised a series of urgent questions for the White House.
Does it rapidly expand the boundaries of Washington’s set limits for how Ukraine can use American and Nato weapons systems?
Does it risk crossing Russia’s red lines over Western involvement in the war? If not, has President Zelensky showed Washington he can call Mr Putin’s bluff?
Despite the risks and the uncertainty, there is a sense of surprised admiration among some in Washington at Mr Zelensky’s move. Piecing together comments from US officials over the last week reveals something of the emerging position.
The administration insists Ukraine gave it no advance warning of the assault. White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre has said Washington had “nothing to do” with it.
As for the use of US weapons, the White House, Pentagon and State Department won’t officially confirm whether they are being used, but it seems overwhelmingly clear that they are, given Ukraine’s reliance on US and Nato weapons systems.
Vladislav Seleznyov, a former spokesman for the Ukrainian armed forces’ general staff, told Voice of America that US-provided HIMAR rocket launchers had been critical to the advance.
Read more at BBC.com
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