Although President Joe Biden’s administration has pledged “unwavering support” for Ukraine, it has been cautious to a fault in practice. The latest example: supplying the Ukrainians with sophisticated long-range missiles but prohibiting their most effective uses.
Since last year, the West has been sending Ukraine British and French long-range missiles, as well as the more versatile U.S.-supplied Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS. Such munitions have proved effective in hitting military facilities in Crimea and elsewhere in occupied Ukraine. Yet the Biden administration has vetoed their use inside Russia itself.
To an extent, this caution is understandable. Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that attacks within Russia would amount to an escalation, and Biden is rightly keen to avoid World War III. But if Biden wants to help bring this war to an acceptable ending – and he should – he needs to stop vacillating and give Ukraine the arms it needs to defend itself.
For one thing, the restrictions on long-range weapons play directly into Putin’s hands. They create a zone of safety from which Russian troops can launch attacks with impunity. They buy time for the Kremlin to adjust to changes on the battlefield and resupply its own forces while preventing Ukraine from effectively counterattacking. They also amplify Russia’s advantages in manpower and weaponry. In effect, they give Ukraine enough help to prolong the war but not enough to make real progress.
It makes little sense to keep tying Ukraine’s hands. There are, by conservative estimates, hundreds of military targets – including communications centers, training grounds and air bases from which attacks are being launched or resupplied – that long-range missiles could target. Even if Putin moves many out of reach, he can’t protect all such targets, and their removal would provide Ukraine more protection and greater warning time.