Austin names 4 reasons why Ukraine is important for US security
22 October 00:31US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin said in a speech at the Diplomatic Academy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine that Ukraine is important for US security for four reasons. This was reported by Komersant Ukrainian with reference to Interfax-Ukraine.
“Ukraine is important to US security for four obvious reasons. Putin’s war threatens the security of Europe. Putin’s war challenges our NATO allies. Putin’s war attacks our shared values. And Putin’s war is a frontal assault on the rules-based international order that guarantees our security,” the Pentagon chief said.
He emphasised that in the face of aggression, “the price of principle is always small compared to the price of surrender”.
“For those who think American leadership is expensive, think about the cost of American retreat,” Austin said.
He also noted that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine did not go as planned by the Kremlin, and after 970 days of war, Putin has not achieved a single strategic goal.
“Not a single one. President Zelenskyy did not run away. He did not fall. And Ukraine did not fall. Instead, Russia has paid a staggering price for Putin’s imperial stupidity. Russian troops have suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties since February 2022,” the Pentagon chief said.
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, as Austin stressed, Russian losses in the first year of Putin’s war alone exceeded Moscow’s total losses in all its conflicts since World War II.
Russia has also spent more than $200 billion to support its invasion.
Austin arrived in Ukraine’s capital immediately after Russia once again attacked Kyiv with drones.
The day before, the French newspaper Le Monde reported that the United States was ready to invite Ukraine to join NATO.
At the same time, Biden said that there was no consensus on long-range weapons for Ukraine. It is worth noting that the United States is the country that is most opposed to finding this consensus.
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Western weapons and permits for their use
As you know, the United States(and Germany after them) allow the use of weapons provided by them only for strikes on the border territories of Russia. This permission was granted by US President Joe Biden only at the end of May, and before that, strikes on Russian territory with US weapons were prohibited altogether.
However, towards the end of June, the US side unofficially stated that the restrictions “do not apply to geography or a certain radius”. This was interpreted as meaning that Ukraine could allegedly strike at those facilities and territories from which attacks on Ukraine are directly directed, even if they are deeper than the border areas. But it has recently emerged that this may also mean that Ukraine is not allowed to strike certain targets even in the occupied territories.
Experts say that border strikes will not change the situation at the front, so Zelenskyy is asking his partners for permission to use their weapons to strike Russian territory. Some Western countries have already given such permission.