The request from the White House to Kyiv not to shoot drones at Russian oil refineries is actually a request not to be so effective in the war with Russia, columnist Michael Toth and former military intelligence officer with 30 years of experience Jonathan Mir write in The Hill column.
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They claim that Joe Biden is frightened by a possible increase in the price of gasoline due to the rise in oil prices allegedly caused by the shelling. And to keep the upper price threshold at $85. per barrel, the American presidential administration is calling on Kyiv not to attack. Columnists consider this step strange for two reasons.
Firstly, for some reason in 2022, the same increase in fuel prices was presented as a “tax on Putin” and was perceived by the Americans as a fair result of the great war unleashed by the dictator. Why now, in an election year, is it worth changing the policy against the “Zelensky tax,” who is forced to do this in order to exhaust the aggressor and end the war? The authors of the article do not consider this the right decision.
Also, the White House’s request is wrong from the point of view of military strategy. The Russians need to be deprived of logistics capabilities, which means attacks on the production of fuel that powers the army. This is exactly what the Russians tried to do at the beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine, hitting oil refineries and fuel tanks. And that’s what the Allied forces did during World War II, starting with the Ploiesti oil refinery in Romania in 1942 and continuing until Germany’s surrender. The destruction of the Nazis’ oil refining facilities significantly helped the Allies win the war, because it bled the armies of the Germans and their allies dry.
The Russians are currently unchecked in their attacks on civilian infrastructure deep within Ukrainian territory. The Americans are slow to provide assistance in principle, not to mention the long-range, high-precision missiles that Kyiv has long and persistently asked for. The allies insist that they will stand with Ukraine until victory – but they do not know how to achieve this victory, write Jonathan Mir and Michael Toth. But Ukraine knows and is taking effective steps for this. Is the issue of Joe Biden’s ratings now more important than Ukraine’s success in the war? The column’s authors rhetorically ask.
Background
Ukraine has affected almost all Russian refineries in the European part of Russia.
Those marked in red on the map are the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine and its own territories that are in the affected area of Ukrainian UAVs.
In green are the territories of Russia that it currently controls and that are outside the range of Ukrainian UAVs.
The US State Department commented on the attacks of Ukrainian drones on Russian refineries.
Our position since the beginning of this war has always been that we do not encourage or support attacks by Ukraine outside its territory,” department spokesman Matthew Miller emphasized.
Commenting on the question of whether the American side was in contact with Kiev after another Russian oil refinery in Samara was struck again the day before, a State Department representative refused to disclose information about any diplomatic interaction.
At the same time, he added, Washington’s position, which he voiced, reflects the “long-standing policy” of the American side, and this was “clearly conveyed to the Ukrainian partners.”
Miller’s comment was the first official reaction from US authorities to a Financial Times article claiming that the US called on Ukraine to stop attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, since UAV strikes could increase oil prices and provoke retaliatory measures.
The material caused a heated debate, in which the majority of Western analysts sided with Kyiv.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.