The US secretly modified the advanced Himars missile launchers it gave to Ukraine, in order to prevent them from being used to launch long-range missiles against Russia, U.S. officials said, according to the Wall Street Journal. It is a precaution that the Biden administration says is necessary to reduce the risk of a wider war with Moscow.
The US has supplied Ukrainian forces since June with 20 High Mobility Artillery System - or Himars - missile launchers, as well as a large stockpile of satellite-guided missiles with a range of nearly 50 miles. These missiles, known as Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System, or GMLRS, have been used to hit Russian ammunition depots, supply depots and command centers on Ukrainian territory.
But there is one feature unique to Himars launchers that may prevent them from becoming even more powerful combat systems. U.S. officials explain that the Pentagon has modified the launchers to prevent them from firing long-range missiles. Among them are the U.S. Army's ATACMS missiles with a range of nearly 200 miles.
As the Wall Street Journal reports, these modifications, which are being disclosed for the first time, show that the Biden administration has taken steps to balance its support for Ukraine against the risk of escalation with Moscow.
Still, the measures reflect U.S. administration concerns that their Ukrainian partner may stop keeping its promise not to strike Russian territory with U.S.-supplied weapons.
On Monday, explosions occurred at two Russian air bases, one of which is a parking area for long-range bombers. The Russian Defense Ministry said Ukraine used drones to carry out the attacks, which damaged two aircraft and killed three Russian soldiers. There is no indication, however, that the attacks used US-supplied weaponry.
Kiev has not officially claimed responsibility for the attack, but Ukrainian officials have suggested that they were able to strike deep inside Russia. After the strikes, Russia launched missile strikes on Ukraine.
Modifications
The US refrained from supplying Ukraine with long-range ATACMS missiles. But the amendments ensure that Ukraine cannot use the US-supplied Himars launchers to launch ATACMS missiles if Kiev were to acquire them elsewhere, i.e. from other states that have bought weapons from Russia. Nor can Ukraine use these launchers to launch other types of longer-range missiles if Kiev somehow manages to build or acquire them, officials say.
The Biden administration has repeatedly said that a diplomatic solution with Russia is up to Kiev and that Washington's goal is to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position should peace talks ever unfold. However, the military support it and its allies have given Kiev has shaped what Ukraine can achieve on the battlefield.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the US has gradually expanded the types of weapons it has been willing to provide to Kiev.
To guard against the risk of escalation, the US secured a commitment from Volodymyr Zelensky that the Himars launchers would not be used to hit targets on Russian territory. Ukraine has honoured this commitment, which, according to Ukrainian officials, shows that allies can trust Kiev with longer-range weapons.
However, the White House, in an attempt to strike a balance, left Ukraine without US long-range missiles that can strike Russia's naval headquarters, air force units and logistics infrastructure in Russian-occupied Crimea or military assets on Russian territory.
At the same time, the Biden administration has dismissed Ukraine's hopes of acquiring Western aircraft in the near future, although the US has not ruled out procuring them some years from now after the conflict in Ukraine is resolved.
"If Washington decides to supply longer-range missiles to Kiev, then it will cross a red line and immediately become part of the conflict," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said for her part in September.
The dispute over whether Washington is keeping the balance has intensified as Russia bombs Ukraine's infrastructure with impunity - to deprive millions of citizens of electricity, heating and water - firing missiles from its territory and drones from bases in Russian-occupied Crimea.
On one side of the debate are experts like Charles Coopan, a top National Security Council official for Europe during the Obama administration, who argues that the US should continue to limit the range and sophistication of weapons provided to Ukraine to reduce the risk of a wider conflict with Russia.
The other side includes some former coalition officials. By denying Ukraine long-range missiles and their launchers, they say, the West has effectively given Russia carte blanche to launch cruise and ballistic missiles into Ukraine from Crimea and its territory and carry out drone attacks without fear that Kiev could retaliate.
"Since October 10, Putin has changed strategy," Anders Fogg Rasmussen, a former Danish prime minister who served as secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation from 2009 to 2014, told the Wall Street Journal. We may now be facing a humanitarian disaster in Ukraine and we have not adapted," he said.
"If you are going to put the brakes on Putin, then you have to prevent it by delivering, for example, long-range missiles," he added.
Source: in.gr
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