No legal, moral, or military justification for this bad policy. Bad policy flows from the absence of clearly defined strategic objective.
— Ben Hodges (@general_ben) May 29, 2024
Ukrainian battlefield commander to Biden: Please untie our hands https://t.co/vvs5SODxfn
Ukrainian artillery shells reach only 25 kilometers. In turn, Russia has safely placed its jamming systems, city-destroying S-300 and S-400 missile launchers, and command centers some 30 to 40 kilometers from the border on the Russian side. Their soldiers therefore attack us with impunity. Though our FPVs could reach seven to 10 kilometers across the border to stop enemy soldiers and vehicles, this isn't possible unless we can disable their jammers.
It reminds me of that scene in "Braveheart" where the Scottish are mocking the British before battle — some soldiers even show their bare buttocks. This is what the Russians are doing to the West right now.
If we were given the green light, the Ukrainian Armed Forces could easily destroy the drone jammers, command centers, and missile launch sites with HIMARS and ATACMS. We know where they all are.
I have two simple requests.
1. Please untie our hands and let us fight back against Russia for the benefit of the whole world. Just like we strike positions in occupied territory, we must be able to strike positions across the Russian border.
2. Help us protect the skies. We need more air defense. And, of course, we need the F-16 fighter jets that we have long been promised.
I don't say this without appreciation. I know where we would be without help from the United States and its great citizens, many of whom have personally provided Achilles with thousands of drones. And I don't ask this lightly. But the Biden administration's nervousness about escalation is in fact providing cover for the Russians to escalate, as evidenced by its latest massacres.
