US Planning to Give Ukraine Long-Range Missiles. Russia Threatens Retaliation

 

A map will make this post easier to follow. This one shows Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula, in red, at the lower-right corner. This map also shows the Kursk Oblast, of which the city of Kursk is the capital. Kursk is shown in the upper-right corner. 

While largely unknown inside the US, the Ukrainian missile attack on the Russian city of Sevastopol, in Crimea, killed several people, including the 9-year-old Sofia, the daughter of Yuri Grishan, the Mayor of Magadan, Russia. Most people in Crimea--60 percent or more--are ethnic Russians although Crimea itself has been under control of both Russia and Ukraine at different times in history. Most recently, the area was annexed--or occupied, depending on your perspective--by Russia in 2014. 

• The attack used US-supplied ATACMS--Army Tactical Missile System--which uses GPS signals emitted by satellites. 

• Predictably, the Russian government has blamed the US government: 

Russia's defence ministry said the missiles used by Ukraine were US-supplied ATACMS missiles, and claimed they were programmed by US specialists.

 

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called the strike "barbaric" and accused the US of "killing Russian children".

A Reuters article contains slightly different information about the Russian response:

Russia said the United States had supplied the weapons, while the U.S. military had aimed them and provided data.

Russia's Foreign Ministry summoned U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy and told her Washington was "waging a hybrid war against Russia and has actually become a party to the conflict".

"Retaliatory measures will definitely follow," it said.

Predictably, the US government denied any link to the attack. Pentagon spokesperson Major Charlie Dietz said that "Ukraine makes its own targeting decisions and conducts its own military operations." 

• At least 70,000 Russian troops have died in this war, many of whom were killed by weapons supplied by the US government.

Even worse from the Russian point of view, the United States is considering giving Ukraine long-range missiles that can strike in the Russian heartland. When asked, President Biden said "they were working on it." According to the British newspaper, The Guardian, the US has already decided to give Ukraine long-range missiles but the decision has not been announced publicly:

British government sources indicated that a decision had already been made to allow Ukraine to use Storm Shadow cruise missiles on targets inside Russia, although it is not expected to be publicly announced on Friday when Starmer meets Biden in Washington DC.

[Storm Shadow missiles were developed jointly by Great Britain and France and have a maximu range of 150 miles, which would allow them to strike farther into Russian territory than the other missiles they have now. A picture of the Storm Shadow appears below.]

 Two key points about the use of Storm Shadow missiles: first, the influential British newsweekly, The Economist, has urged Britain to allow use of these weapons to strike military targets deep inside Russia. The fact that this opinion appears in The Economist is a particular cause for concern because it is the news magazine read by the British elite. The fact that The Economist supports such a move suggests that it has wide support among powerful British decision-makers. Secondly, sending Ukraine these missiles has drawn threats of retaliation, with the Russian government threatening to attack Britain if these missiles are used inside Russian territory.

The Russian government is warning the world that it will attack NATO countries if those countries continue to provide missiles to Ukraine. Our leaders seem to regard this as a bluff or believe that the retaliation will minor--such as providing weapons to North Korea. 

Yes, Russia started this round of the war and bear the greatest share of blame for it.  My point is not to defend the Russian invasion of the Ukraine. Further, I have no way of knowing whether these missiles were programmed by US specialists as the Russian spokesman proclaims. .Rather, it is to point out that the Russians have an expanding list of grievances that will lead to some form of retaliation against America and that this retaliation may affect the ordinary American people.

The publication Bulletin of Atomic Scientists publicizes the "Doomsday Clock," which tells the world how far away we are from a metaphorical midnight of atomic war. We are now 90 seconds away from that mark, the closest we have ever been.