Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is demanding permission to strike deep inside Russia with Western weapons and more resources as Russian forces make a series of incremental advances in the Donetsk region. “It’s a serious challenge that we can’t use all the weapons we need to stop this enemy,” Zelensky told the French press, referring to the restrictions the West has placed on Ukraine using long-range Western weaponry to strike targets far beyond the front lines.
“Unfortunately, our partners are still afraid of this,” he said. Russia has threatened retaliation if long-range munitions donated by the West begin striking targets far beyond the front lines, with the West allowing Ukrainian strikes a short distance inside Russia already regarded as an unacceptable escalation of the proxy war.
Zelensky is reluctant to unilaterally extend strikes using Western weapons deeper into Russia, fearing this would result in donor countries reducing or even eliminating military aid. He also complains that Ukraine needs more Western weaponry: “We no longer keep it a secret that we were preparing 14 brigades. Do you think it is possible to stop [Russian forces] if only three out of 14 are equipped?”
Russia has captured a series of villages in Donetsk over recent days and maintains an estimated five-to-one artillery advantage despite a large injection of U.S. weaponry. The Joe Biden–Kamala Harris government has already announced yet another $1.7 billion in aid for Ukraine.
A French journalist who recently returned from Ukraine has said an increasing number of Ukrainian youths regard the war as hopeless, as it is “impossible to take back the Donbas by force of arms, and what’s the point if it’s destroyed?”
