As Russia kills children in Ukraine, West insists on protecting Putin's warplanes

A Russian missile strike on Lviv, in western Ukraine, left Yaroslav Bazylevych the sole survivor of his family this week. His wife and three daughters were killed, victims of a war where, in the words of Lithuania’s Foreign Minister, "Russian planes are better protected by Western guarantees than Ukrainian civilians."

Yaroslav, his wife, Yevheniya, and three daughters – Emilia, Daryna and Yaryna – all lived in Lviv, a city near Ukraine’s border with Poland which has long been considered a safer haven within Ukrainian territory. Until recently, it has experienced limited Russian attacks. This recent bombardment came after devastating missile strikes on the central Ukrainian city of Poltava, which claimed the lives of over 50 people, making it one of Russia’s deadliest attacks on Ukraine to date.

Jaroslav Bazylevych, right, follows Ukrainian emergency services personnel carrying the body of his daughter, who was killed along with her two sisters and their mother during a missile attack in Lviv on Wednesday (Picture: Yuriy Dyachyshyn) | AFP via Getty Images

Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is intensifying, and yet still the Western posture seems to be utterly stuck in a rut. Ukraine complains – rightly – that Western weapons deliveries are simply not enough, that they take too long to arrive and that too many restrictions are placed upon their use. This has become a particular point of focus as Western partners – principally the Biden administration – insist on a blurred policy when it comes to using American-made weapons to strike military targets within Russia.

Nuclear sabre-rattling

Although the White House lifted its blanket ban on targeting assets in Russia earlier this year, they continue to dole out a whole range of excuses as to why certain weapons systems must not or should not be used. Usually, “unnamed officials” at the State Department reference the risk of nuclear escalation or claim that the use of longer-range weapons hitting inside Russia won’t change the strategic outlook of the war because the targets aren’t worth hitting.

If the war has shown us anything, it’s that Putin’s nuclear sabre-rattling is just that. But the idea that Ukraine can’t change the strategic outlook is simply for the birds. A recent study from the US-based think tank, the Institute for the Study of War, argues that there are around 250 military objects – airfields, military bases, communications stations and logistics hubs – within range of Army Tactical Missile Systems, a tactical ballistic missile built by Lockheed Martin and supplied by the US.

Ben Hodges, a former commander of American forces in Europe, told The Economist that the “constant excuse-making is both misleading and inaccurate. There is no moral or legal reason for not going after these targets.” He was even more blunt when he took to X/Twitter after the Russian bombing of a housing block in Kharkiv when he said: “US policy is protecting Russia’s ability to do this.”

Biden says no

Another example would be the UK and French-supplied Storm Shadow/Scalp cruise missiles. Ukraine wants to use these to target legitimate Russian assets but because they contain American components, the US gets an effective veto.

The supply of Storm shadow missiles – albeit limited – is not insignificant. They have a long range and can, for example, penetrate hardened aircraft hangers. They would present a headache for Russian military planners, who have already moved significant assets further away from the Ukrainian border. But Joe Biden says no. With his pushback, Russian bombers sleep a little more soundly.

In recent days, Ukrainian officials have travelled to Washington in the hope of securing a readjustment to the current policy of ‘yes but, no but’. It’s understood Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will also raise the issue directly with Biden when the pair meet at the upcoming UN General Assembly in New York.

Prolonging the war

A change is indeed needed if Ukraine is to win, and this war is to come to an end. How can it possibly be that we – politicians and citizens of the West – allow Russian bombers to be better protected than Yaroslav’s wife and three children? Ukraine must be allowed to strike back if they are to protect their sovereignty, which is entirely the point of article 51 of the UN Charter.

What we are witnessing in Washington is the slow boiling of a frog. Biden’s stubbornness, and his inability to see the bigger strategic picture, will prolong the war, deteriorate European security even further and only encourage Russia to push the envelope as they seek to create a new wave of Ukrainian refugees in Europe.

John Foreman, the former British Defence Attaché in Moscow, put it rather well to me earlier this week when he said: “The US strategy is the inverse of Roosevelt's. Biden speaks loudly but carries a small stick.”

China is watching

As the war against Ukraine has slowly slipped down the headlines and the political agenda, it is worth pausing to remind ourselves that Ukraine isn’t only fighting for their existence and freedom, but also for ours. They fight to defend the international system that has given Europe the longest period of relative peace in its history. When we say we will stand with Ukraine, we shouldn’t do it whilst chaining one hand behind their back.

All of this, of course, is being noted in China – which is, it’s worth remembering, a party to Russia’s war against Ukraine – where President Xi Jinping will be licking his lips as he weighs up any future moves on the free people of Taiwan.

The limits of the liberal international order are being assaulted, violated and probed every day and across every continent. War, climate change, economic uncertainty and technological advancements are all contributing to what former Prime Minister Tony Blair described this week as an “anxious zeitgeist” that characterises today’s mood.

This period of messy transition requires clear-eyed leadership and the boldness to defend what’s right. Ukraine knows better than anyone else how to win this war and secure their freedoms and ours. We must give them it.