President Volodymyr Zelensky on Aug. 31 called on the U.S., the U.K., France, and Germany to allow Ukraine to use long-range weapons to strike targets in Russia.
“I appeal to the U.S., the U.K., France and Germany. We need the ability to genuinely and fully defend Ukraine and Ukrainians. We require both: permissions for long-range capabilities and your long-range shells and missiles,” Zelensky said in his evening address.
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Kyiv has long argued that restrictions on the use of long-range weapons are stifling its war effort, while Washington claimed that allowing Ukraine to hit deep into Russian territory with its weapons could escalate the conflict.
That’s not it, that’s what Russia is trying to pitch to discourage Ukrainians.
The actual answer is less evil and more sad:
We weren’t prepared and when the war started we didn’t think Ukraine would fight, we figured they would lose in a month or 2.
When your whole geopolitical assessment is blown out of the water, you tend to move forward cautiously, because at the level they operate, cautious is always considered the right move with so much at stake.
Plus, domestic politics means committing makes it a political issue, and as a political issue, the dems could lose the election on this alone. If the Russians actually understood us they could use this in ways you couldn’t imagine, but fortunately their tools are still crude.