Ukraine to strike inside Russia with U.S.-made weapons

Posted on June 27, 2024 by obligingworldviewer

The war with Russia is putting the entire Ukrainian population under enormous pressure For two years now, Ukrainians have been watching with fearful hearts as the Russians destroy their country to such an extent that soon there will be little left standing in several regions.
Worryingly, the Russians also attack Ukraine from Russia, leaving them out of the picture. More than once, the Ukrainian president has asked the West to allow those attackers in Russia to attack as well.

After all, it does not follow that Russia can simply reach all kinds of targets in Ukraine from its own country without fearing that its shelling would be undermined.

A satellite purchased via a Ukrainian crowdfunding campaign took 4,173 images of Russia’s targets in almost two years, Ukraine‘s military intelligence (HUR) said on June 26. In this way, the Ukrainian government also knows where certain gunships in Russia are under fire from Ukraine.

For two years now, the West and the East could see Putin’s troops freshly ranting in the country they illegally invaded. One cannot see beyond the many war crimes, and it is incomprehensible that these criminals can still continue.

Since the conquest of Crimea, Russia has been continuously pursuing Russification. To this end, they imposed rules on the population in the conquered territories that they had to follow if they wanted to stay alive.

It started already in 2014, but became worse by the summer of 2023 when pressure on more Ukrainians living in the Russian-occupied territories intensified. Russian soldiers began coercing the population.

While most of the Kremlin’s disinformation campaign is dismissed by Ukraine, the West, and many around the world, the wide net that Russia’s false narratives have cast globally has allowed historical misconceptions to arise.

A political declaration, published by the Restoring Justice for Ukraine conference on April 2 and signed by 44 countries, condemns Russian aggression in Ukraine and advocates for the establishment of a special tribunal to investigate and prosecute Russian crimes.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted three resolutions related to Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine on June 26, said Maria Mezentseva, the head of the Ukrainian delegation.

PACE took into account all Kyiv’s amendments to three documents — on legal aspects of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the role of sanctions in countering Russia’s war, and countering the eradication of cultural identity during war and peacetime, Mezentseva said.

With this move, PACE supported the creation of a special tribunal for the crime of Russia’s aggression, as well as a compensation mechanism and a register of damages, according to Mezentseva.

An international special tribunal to hold Russia accountable for war crimes committed in Ukraine may be created by the end of this year, European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders said in April.

Ukrainian officials have documented thousands of war crimes committed by Russian forces, including deliberate attacks on civilians, attacks on cultural sites or medical institutions, torture, and deportations.

On the 31st of May the Biden administration has decided to allow Ukraine to strike inside Russia with U.S.-made weapons with the aim of blunting Russia’s attacks in the Kharkiv area, senior American officials said yesterday.

The decision follows weeks of discussion with the Ukrainians after Russia began a major assault on Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city. U.S. permission is intended solely for strikes on military sites in Russia being used to attack the Kharkiv area.

The Russian military has been hitting the area around the city with artillery and missiles fired or launched from inside Russian territory, and the Ukrainians have asked the Americans to give them greater leeway, an American official said.

The leaders of NATO, France, and Germany had recently urged the U.S. to make that decision. In internal administration discussions, Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, also supported the move.

NATO will offer Ukraine a new headquarters to manage its military assistance at its upcoming 75th anniversary summit in Washington, officials said, an assurance of the alliance’s long-term commitment to the country’s security that has been heralded as a “bridge” to Kyiv’s eventual membership.

For a long time, President Volodymyr Zelensky had fervently hoped his country would be offered membership negotiations by NATO. Now it looks like we are coming closer to it.

The NATO alliance will announce that it has agreed to set up a mission in Germany to coordinate aid of all kinds to Ukraine over the longer term, American and NATO officials said. The move is intended to send a strong signal of allied commitment, both to Kyiv and to Moscow, which hopes the West will grow tired of supporting the war.

Because the mission will be under NATO’s auspices, it is designed to function even if Donald J. Trump, a sharp critic of the alliance and of aid to Ukraine, wins the U.S. presidency in November.

The Biden administration and NATO officials came up with the idea as a way to give something solid to Kyiv at the summit even as they maintain the time is not right for Ukraine to join.

It is not just that the country is still at war, which could make NATO an active participant in the fighting. President Biden and Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany have said that Ukraine must make important reforms to reduce corruption and improve its democracy and rule of law.

The hope is that the mission and the commitment it represents will satisfy Mr. Zelensky and lead to a smoother summit than the last one, a year ago in Vilnius, Lithuania, where he made his unhappiness clear when Ukraine was not offered a firm timeline for membership negotiations.

A recent survey by the Razumkov Center, published on June 26, indicates that 33% of Ukrainians believe the country is moving “in the right direction,” while 47% feel it is heading “in the wrong direction.”

Slava Ukraini