US is main obstacle to allowing Ukraine to strike Russia with Western weapons – POLITICO

Bielieskov said that if Ukraine were allowed to use Western missiles to strike Russian airfields about 50 kilometers from the border, it could significantly hamper Moscow's use of aerial bombs.

“Russian bombers are less likely to fly from more distant airfields because this increases fuel demand. As a result, this will reduce the number of opportunities for them to bomb us so frequently,” Bielieskov said. “Ukraine's lasting ban on the use of Western weapons in Russia gives the Kremlin carte blanche for violent strikes that could turn Ukraine's borders into a wasteland that would facilitate the Russian offensive.”

Not so red lines

The West fears crossing Russia's “red lines” and triggering a wider war – perhaps even a nuclear exchange. This week, Belgium confirmed that it would supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, but on the condition that they do not fly over Russian territory.

kyiv says Moscow's threats are largely bluster, noting that the West has also been reluctant to supply Ukraine with anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, artillery systems, armored personnel carriers, tanks, cruise missiles and combat aircraft.

“We found that with the strikes in Crimea and with the supply of HIMARS and other Western weapons to Ukraine, there were no longer red lines full of threats,” Cherniev said.

Particularly galling for Ukraine is the knowledge that its allies would not accept such limits if their own forces were fighting.