People gather their belongings from a damaged house after Russian shelling in the town of Vyshgorod outside the capital Kyiv, Ukraine. (Photo for representation) AP
New Delhi: Ukraine relies entirely on the West for weapons and money. Without military aid from countries part of NATO, the war in Ukraine would have been long over. However, this reliance on the West does not come without its costs.
Ukraine cannot fight Russia in a way it wants to, or in a way that might deliver decisive results. There is also a trust deficit between Ukraine and its allies.
This trust deficit has led the US to make a drastic change to one of the weapons systems it provides to Ukraine.
The U.S. secretly modified the advanced Himars rocket launchers it gave Ukraine so they cannot be used to fire long-range missiles into Russia.
According to senior US officials quoted by the Wall Street Journal, this secret modification is being undertaken as a measure of abundant caution, to ensure Ukraine does not fire missiles into proper Russian territory.
According to these officials, the Himars have a unique feature intended to prevent them from becoming even more potent battlefield systems.
Ukraine has been launching rockets that have a range of 50 miles using Himars. However, the Himars can even launch missiles that strike targets as far away as 200 miles.
The secret modifications demonstrate how Washington does not entirely trust Ukraine with weapon systems, and wants to take its own precautions before handing the systems to Kyiv.
Washington is apprehensive about the fact that Ukraine might stop keeping its promise not to strike Russian territory with U.S.-provided weapons.
In fact, on Monday, Ukraine reportedly struck two air bases deep inside proper Russian territory. Subsequently, Moscow launched a barrage of missiles on Ukraine, knocking out power and water supplies once again.
According to Russia’s defense ministry, Ukraine used Soviet-era “unmanned aerial vehicles” to conduct the strikes, in which two Russian aircraft were “slightly damaged.”
Now that is exactly what could get the US and its NATO allies in a lot of trouble.
Ukraine striking deep inside Russian territory, hundreds of miles away from the frontline will not make Kyiv’s allies very happy.
You see, Ukraine using Western weapons to conduct such strikes could place NATO in Russia’s direct line of fire.
In fact, the whole idea of Washington secretly modifying the Himar systems to make them incapable of shooting over longer ranges is to avoid direct confrontation with Moscow.
Ukraine did not use Western weapons in its strikes on Russian airfields on Monday, and the Kremlin testified to that fact itself.
However, the US still has much reason to worry. What if Ukraine decides to act funny and use Western weapons to target installations deep inside Russia? That will lead to an escalation which will be beyond NATO’s control.
The U.S. since June has supplied Ukrainian forces with 20 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System launchers, or Himars. To go along with these systems, Ukraine was also provided with a large inventory of satellite-guided rockets with a range of almost 50 miles.
The US has committed to supplying Ukraine with 18 more Himars systems. In line with that promise, on December 1, the US Department of Defense announced that Lockheed Martin had received a $430 million contract to manufacture additional High-Mobility Rocket Artillery Systems.
The US wants to avoid a direct fight with Russia at all costs. That is why it has secretly been reducing the Himars’ lethality.
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