NATO declares its approval of the Ukrainian army’s advance into the Kursk region of Russia, arguing that the Russian forces and bases are legitimate targets under international law. NATO chief said this in an interview with the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s Kursk operation aims to establish a buffer zone to prevent Russia from launching further attacks across the border. This is Ukraine’s response to Russia setting up similar buffer zones inside Ukraine to prevent Ukrainian missiles from reaching deep into Russia.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg says Ukraine did not coordinate its planning for the Kursk offensive with NATO. Still, the Kremlin states that the West is helping Ukraine with data from US satellites to designate targets inside Russia.
Ukrainian forces moved into the Russian administrative district of Kursk near the border with Ukraine in early August 2024. According to Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyj, by August 27, the Ukrainian army had captured about 1300 square kilometers of Russian territory.
Welt am Stontag writes that Western weapons, such as German Marder infantry fighting vehicles, British Challenger tanks, and the US Himars missile system with a range of up to 480 kilometers, are being used.
For Ukraine to ultimately win the war, more support from the allies is needed, says Stoltenberg. “This is crucial for Ukraine to repel the Russian invasion,” said Stoltenberg, who will leave his 10-year NATO post in early October 2024 for a tentatively announced job as Governor of the Central Bank of Norway.
His successor will be the former prime minister of the Netherlands, liberal politician Mark Rutte.
Despite warnings from Russia, which fears that the Western Alliance, with Ukraine as its proxy, will use long-range weapons against Russia, with Moscow being the ultimate target, NATO countries continue to take continuous steps towards a whole confrontation with Russia.
According to the Associated Press, NewsVoice reported in April 2024 that Ukraine had begun using long-range ATACMS ballistic missiles secretly provided by the United States. Ukraine has used the missiles against a Russian military airfield in Crimea. The ATACMS missiles can reach 300 kilometers into Russia, according to the AP. This means that Moscow’s neighborhood can be attacked by Ukraine.
Reuters and Politico wrote in September 2024 that the Kyiv regime can (or will) also receive deliveries of American JASSM (Lockheed Martin) cruise missiles for attacks deep into Russian territory.
Washington has repeatedly shown during the Ukraine conflict that there are no “red lines” for them. Earlier, “taboos” were lifted on the transfer of HYMARS, Abrams tanks, ATACMS missiles, cluster munitions, and F-16 aircraft, notes the Russian channel Topwar.
Russia has long warned NATO against supplying long-range weapons to Ukraine. In May 2024, Putin told a press conference that long-range precision strikes require satellite support, which Ukraine does not have, but the US does. Ukraine does not have military satellites, so its combat command depends on “highly qualified specialists” from the West.
Putin also addressed NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s comments on potential attacks, saying that Stoltenberg should recognize the indispensable role of space-based reconnaissance in using long-range, high-precision weapons against Russia.
JASSM can be fired from US F-16 fighter jets, which are already in use in Ukraine. JASSM has a range of up to 800 km, compared to the distance between Ukraine and Moscow of around 500 km. The distance between Russian Kursk and Moscow is around 400 km. Ukraine can even reach Moscow from Kyiv, a distance of 756 km.
Strategic nuclear weapons can be used against NATO countries giving Ukraine long-range missiles
Sergei A. Karaganov, a Russian political scientist, security analyst, and the head of the Council for Foreign and Defense Policy, responded in an exclusive interview in July 2024 with Ukraina.ru about whether Russia could use nuclear weapons against NATO:
”If the bloc and its mercenaries in Kiev keep throwing new hundreds of thousands of people into this meat grinder and supplying them with new weapons, then we will have to move faster up the escalation-deterrence ladder. In this case we might be forced to deliver nuclear group strikes on countries that are helping them. But naturally, there will be other preliminary steps first, including, perhaps non-nuclear strikes.”
As early as May 2024, Putin ordered troops based near Ukraine to practice “nuclear scenarios.” The military exercises include the preparation and deployment of non-strategic nuclear weapons, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry, writes the Daily Mail.
Sources and related
- TASS (translated by StreeTalk): Putin responses to NATO statements about strikes deep into Russian territory
- Welt: Nato billigt erstmals Vorstoß der Ukraine nach Russland
- Reuters: US close to agreeing on long-range missiles for Ukraine; delivery to take months (kommenterat av TopWar)
- Daily Mail: Putin orders military to practice tactical NUKE strike as Kremlin official warns of ’world catastrophe’ if NATO troops are sent to Ukraine
- NewsVoice: Ukraina använder amerikanska ATACMS-långdistansmissiler som nästan når Moskva
- RT: Putin warns West about consequences of long-range strikes on Russia
- Russia in Global Affairs: “Nuclear escalation may open Pandora’s box, but it will also free the world from the 500-year-long Western yoke”