Arms deliveries: also meet Russia in Russia?

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made this surprising announcement this week Ukraine visited, he not only showed his musical talent, when he met Neil Youngs in a basement bar in Kiev Rocking in the free world played. He also said a very interesting sentence at a joint press conference with his Ukrainian colleague Dmytro Kuleba.

It is about, among other things the situation in Kharkiv. Only about 40 kilometers from the Russian border will come into effect Russia the region is becoming increasingly part of its own territory. According to the public broadcaster Suspilne, an air raid siren was in force in the city for more than 16.5 hours on Friday evening, longer than ever before. Five drones are said to have attacked the city.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sees the American restriction that Ukraine cannot use American equipment to attack Russian territory as a disadvantage in his defense of the country. It was discussed whether these restrictions still make sense in light of the situation in Kharkov or whether they should be relaxed Flash asked by a traveling American journalist. To which came the interesting words of Antony Blinken“We have not supported or enabled attacks outside Ukraine, but ultimately Ukraine must decide for itself how to wage this war, a war it is waging in defense of its freedom, its sovereignty and its territorial integrity.” The United States will continue to support Ukraine with the equipment the country needs to succeed and win, the secretary of state said.

The hint of a change of mind by the US to prevent the catastrophe from Ukrainian and Western perspectives? Blinken’s statement can certainly be interpreted this way: We deliver – then the responsibility lies with the Ukrainian troops.

That Ukraine faces difficult months, Military experts agree on this. Also the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock calls for more weapons for Ukraine on the sidelines of a meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France. The situation is very dramatic, and not only in Kharkov, says Baerbock. “We clearly see how much Ukraine needs further support, especially in the field of air defense.” Medium- and long-range weapon systems are also needed to cut off Russian supply routes. “We need more large systems,” says the Minister of Foreign Affairs. But she doesn’t want to follow her counterpart Blinken’s rhetoric about how they should be used. “What we have said about this over the past two years applies to the Americans and to us,” Baerbock said in Strasbourg.

After Blinken’s visit to Kiev, the US Department of Defense also emphasized that the government’s position remained the same. ‘We have not changed our position’ a Pentagon spokeswoman said on Thursday (local time). “We believe that the equipment and capabilities that we and other countries provide to Ukraine should be used to retake Ukrainian territory.” When asked whether this was a requirement or a mandatory condition, the spokeswoman spoke of a “quite public requirement”.

US President Joe Biden and his Western allies have always emphasized that they, and therefore NATO, would not become a party to the war. At the same time, pressure is growing to further enable Ukraine to defend itself against Russian attacks. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said in early May that Ukraine could also use British weapons against military targets on Russian territory. A much more explicit statement than Blinken’s reference to Ukrainian decisions about their warfare. After Cameron’s statement, Russia immediately responded threatened to attack the British army.