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Ukraine hid Russia operation from US to avoid veto by anxious allies


Ukrainian officials shielded their audacious plan to seize a “buffer zone” in Russia because they did not want objections from Western allies.

“Just a few months ago, many people around the world, if they had heard that we were planning such an operation like the one in the Kursk region, would have said that it was impossible and that it would cross the strictest of all the red lines that Russia has,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday in an address to Ukrainian diplomats. “That is why, actually, no one knew about our preparations.”

That statement contradicts Russia’s insistence that Zelensky launched the raid on the “instructions” of the United States. Yet Zelensky offered that account of their decision-making to put additional pressure on President Joe Biden and other Western leaders who refuse to allow Ukrainian forces to conduct long-range missile strikes on Russian bases in Russia — a strategic mistake, he insisted, tantamount to “de facto support” for Russia’s conquest of more Ukrainian territory.

“I emphasize that the format of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s response to the operation in the Kursk region demonstrates that there is no single rational reason to deny us true power, true long-range capabilities,” Zelensky said. “And the situation on the Donetsk front is such that any further delay by our partners in terms of long-range capabilities is becoming de facto, perhaps, the most effective support for Russia’s offensive potential.”

A destroyed Russian tank lies on a roadside near Sudzha, Kursk region, Russia, Friday, Aug. 16, 2024. (AP Photo)

Zelensky’s barbed appeal could stoke the frustration that U.S. officials have felt toward Zelensky in previous controversies when his public browbeating has spurred Biden’s team to demand “a degree of gratitude” for the aid that has been provided. Zelensky, however, has requested long-range missiles for use against Russia’s military bases and supply lines for years, only to be stymied by Western concern that such an upgrade to Ukraine’s capabilities might provoke Putin to escalate.

“We need sufficient range to defend Ukraine from Russian missiles and guided aerial bombs, to prevent the transfer of Russian troops, and to counter the occupier’s pressure on key front lines,” Zelensky said.

The incursion into Kursk has thrown a wrench into Russian plans to grind away at Ukrainian defenses while demanding that Zelensky acquiesce to the loss of four Ukrainian regions as a condition for a peace deal. 

“At this stage, given this escapade, we will not talk,” Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told Russian media. “At the moment it would be completely inappropriate for there to be a negotiation process.”

The Kursk operation marks a precarious juncture in the war, as Russian forces are advancing gradually in the Donbas region, where Ukrainian troops are struggling to manage a manpower shortage that worsened during the months in which a political dispute in Washington caused a lapse in shipments of American military equipment. And though European allies worked to fill the gap during that period, Zelensky faulted the U.S., the United Kingdom, and France for delivering supplies too slowly. 

“In particular, we have seen throughout this war that the United Kingdom has shown real leadership,” Zelensky said Saturday. “This is what has saved thousands of our people. This is what reflects the strength of the United Kingdom. But now, unfortunately, the situation has slowed down. We will discuss how to fix this. Because long-range capabilities are a matter of principle for us.”

Ukraine’s first deliveries of Western main battle tanks came courtesy of the U.K., which thereafter delivered long-range missiles through a joint initiative with France, at a time when Biden’s team was still unwilling to send a similar U.S. weapon. Though Biden has since authorized the transfer of ATACMS missiles, the governments have now allowed Ukrainian forces to use them for deep-strike attacks far behind Russian lines.

“The prime minister remains absolutely resolute in his support for Ukraine,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s team said Monday. “In terms of our support, again, it is unwavering.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Unnamed British officials have deflected blame to the U.S. by communicating that “although the U.K. wants to give Ukraine the freedom to do what they want with the long-range weapon, it requires consensus from allies, including the U.S., France, and a third undisclosed NATO country,” as the Times put it.

“Ukraine is separated from halting the advance of the Russian army on the front by only one decision we await from our partners: the decision on long-range capabilities,” Zelensky said Monday.

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