Ukraine’s Russia incursion is a new descent into disaster

While NATO proxy warriors rejoice at an assault inside Russia with US weapons, Ukraine is failing to achieve its immediate goals and newly undermining long-term survival.

(Photo by Yan Dobronosov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

While claiming total surprise at Ukraine’s cross-border incursion into Russia, which is being carried out with US-supplied military vehicles and weaponry, the Biden administration quickly offered an optimistic endorsement.

The Ukrainian assault in Russia’s Kursk region, President Biden declared, is “creating a real dilemma for Putin.” As a further signal of approval, Biden added that “we’ve been in direct contact — constant contact — with the Ukrainians. That’s all I’m going to say about it while it’s active.”

US officials meanwhile told the New York Times that Ukraine’s operation “is likely to make it harder for Moscow to mount a major renewed offensive in Ukraine’s east”, “...could eventually impose real costs on the Kremlin,” and “could also help rebuild sagging morale among Ukraine’s troops and war-weary population.”

Allied neoconservatives are even more sanguine. During a visit to Kyiv, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham hailed what he called a “bold, brilliant and beautiful” operation inside Russian territory, urged Ukraine to “keep it up,” and implored the US to supply even weaponry to “let these people fight.” Michael McFaul, a former US Ambassador to Moscow, likewise declared: “Maybe it’s time for Russians to rethink whether Putin is good for their security.”

Yet two and a half years into Russia’s invasion – the most devastating chapter of a war that started with a US-backed coup in Kyiv a decade ago – the Kursk operation offers yet one more reason for Ukrainians to ask the same question of the ultra-nationalists and NATO proxy warriors who have consistently chosen escalation over diplomacy, to Ukraine’s growing detriment.