Destroying Russian missiles in Ukraine directly from their soil: the strategy that tempts kyiv’s allies

Among Ukraine’s allied countries, the time has come to let go. Last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken opened the door to a new doctrine on the Ukrainian conflict. After playing the guitar Rockin’ in a free world in a Kiev bar, he appeared to lift the red line set by the Biden administration, which prohibited Ukraine from hitting Russia on its soil with Western weapons.

“We have not encouraged or permitted strikes outside of Ukraine, but ultimately it is up to Ukraine to decide for itself how it will fight this warhe conceded, a war that it is waging to defend its freedom, its sovereignty and its territorial integrity,” he detailed.

The fear of an escalation

But in Washington, indecision still remained this week, analyzes the New York Times. Joe Biden fears, through explicit authorization, to provoke an escalation with Russia. The escalation has already begun, and it is Moscow which has taken the initiative, dismissed Volodymyr Zelensky in an interview with the same media.

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The facts prove him right: in May, the Russian army launched a vast offensive in the Kharkiv oblast, in the northeast of Ukraine. Russian missiles are raining down on the satellite villages of the regional capital. The latest information provided by the X (formerly Twitter) OSINT accounts indicates suspicions of a future spread of the attack to the North, towards the Sumy region.

If it is not certain that Russia has the necessary forces to make decisive thrusts, we recently recalled that this strategy has the consequences of thinning the Ukrainian defense, forced to “lengthen” along a front line. Furthermore, there is every reason to be concerned about exercises claimed by Russia this week in the Southern Military District, near the Ukrainian border, which involve tactical nuclear weapons.

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However, the Ukrainian forces are still struggling to make ends meet, and are experiencing a lack of ammunition and artillery, following delays and delays in the delivery of Western weapons. Above all, kyiv deplores a shortage of anti-aircraft defense systems.

It is in this context that Ukraine, through its head of diplomacy, Dmytro Koulebaa, proposed on Tuesday May 21 that kyiv’s allies shoot down Russian missiles targeting Ukraine from their territory.

“There is no legal, security or moral argument that would prevent our partners from shooting down Russian missiles over the territory of Ukraine from their territory,” judged Dmytro Kouleba.

The request is recurrent, and is based in particular on the means put in place by the United States and the United Kingdom during Iran’s attack on Israel.

Poland advances its pawns

If France is eager to change Western aid to Ukraine, as evidenced by Macron’s statement on sending “troops” to the country (rejected by NATO members), Poland could be the first to draw.

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Responding to requests from the Ukrainian General Staff, Warsaw has indicated that it is studying the possibility of shooting down Russian missiles over Ukraine using its air defense systems, reports The Kyiv Independent.

“This issue is being examined from a legal and technical point of view, but no decision has been made on this,” Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Pawel Wronski told Ukrainian media Ukrinform on Wednesday.

The statement comes in an already tense context between Warsaw and Moscow, as Poland said in March that a Russian missile fired at western Ukraine had entered its airspace several times. While waiting for the revival demanded by kyiv since the start of the conflict, its members are going it alone.