For more than two years, after Russia will expand its war against Ukrainethe administration of the president of the USA, Joe Bidendrew a red line for the Ukrainian forces.
Biden’s decision after Russian attacks in Kharkiv
Administration would provide Ukrainians with precision munitions, including air-glide bombs, cruise missiles HarpoonM30/31 rockets for the High-Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and rockets Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS). The Ukrainians could use these munitions against Russian targets on Ukrainian soil, but if they attacked targets within Russiathe White House could withhold future aid.
However, recent Russian attacks on Kharkiv, just 25 miles from the border in northeastern Ukrainehelped change the opinion of Biden. A month of indiscriminate attacks displaced tens of thousands of civilians and killed dozens. On May 25, Russians bombed a home improvement store in the city of 1.4 million people, killing 18 people, including two children.
On Friday, the White House He erased his red line. That night, the Ukrainian military apparently aimed some of its wheeled HIMARS launchers at the Russian city of Belgorod, 20 miles north of the Russia-Ukraine border in southern Russia.
Strategic impact of Ukrainian attacks on Belgorod
“This is a welcome step that will now allow us to better protect Ukraine and the Ukrainians from Russian terror and attempts to expand the war,” wrote the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky just before potentially dozens of 660-pound rockets, each with a range of up to 57 miles with 50 pounds of high explosives, rained down on Belgorod.
Russian media captured the sounds of air raid sirens and fiery launches from air defense batteries as Ukrainian rockets thundered toward the city of 384,000. State media claimed that air defense batteries shot down 14 rockets, and there is some evidence of rocket fragments on the ground.
It is unclear how much damage the raid inflicted and, more specifically, how much damage it inflicted on military targets. However, it is obvious what the Ukrainians are trying to achieve. Belgorod and surrounding towns are a base of operations for the Russian army’s northern group, which has been attacking Ukrainian border towns since May 10, possibly aiming to break Ukrainian lines and advance towards Kharkiv.
Ukrainian response to Russian attacks and their implications
In three weeks of intense fighting, this group of Russian troops has captured, at great cost, a string of border villages and turned the town of Vovchansk, a few miles south of the border, into a rubble-strewn battlefield. Quick action by Ukrainian reinforcements – the 36th Marine Brigade, 71st Jager Brigade and the elite 82nd Air Assault Brigade, among other units – has stopped the Russian advance.
Belgorod has only grown in importance as the battle continues. There are so many Russian casualties in area hospitals that the local health system “is in a state of collapse,” said the Center for Defense Strategies of Ukraine.
There are signs that the Russians are regrouping for a new assault. Troop movements in the towns of Graivoron, Borisovka and Proletarsky, a few miles west of Belgorod, “possibly indicate the formation of a strike group in the Belgorod oblast,” according to the CDS.
Ukrainian capabilities to attack with precision
By attacking Belgorod and the surrounding oblast, the Ukrainians erode the northern group of forces and this presumed new attack group, without having to fight the Russians street by street in Vovchansk.
To be clear, Ukrainian forces could attack Belgorod before this week, but only using locally made or European munitions. In fact, Belgorod has been a target since April 2022, when Ukrainian army attack helicopters crossed the border and launched rockets at an oil facility in the city.
However, the best and most numerous deep attack munitions of Ukraine are manufactured in USA. Truly sustainable and damaging bombing of Russian bases in Belgorod requires US-supplied HIMARS, ATACMS, and glide bombs.
Implications of the new US policy
Finally, the Ukrainians have the green light to proceed. “I am grateful for the vital support,” he wrote. Zelensky.
This new administration policy Biden represents a significant change in the dynamics of war, allowing Ukraine use advanced American capabilities to impact strategic objectives within Russia.
This change may lead to an escalation in war, but it also offers Ukraine a critical opportunity to defend itself against Russian attacks and protect its civilian population from future indiscriminate bombing.
