Supply of long-range rockets to Ukraine may trigger ‘nuclear threat’

As Western aid to Ukraine has escalated, Germany’s leader has revealed that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky agrees that weapons supplied by the West will not be used to attack Russian territory.

Experts say they believe that such a “commitment” was made to prevent the Russia-Ukraine conflict from becoming a nuclear threat. However, if some countries led by the US continue to break the bounds of “assistance,” the Russia-Ukraine conflict is sure to spin out of control.

On Friday, the US Department of Defense announced a new security assistance package for Ukraine valued at up to $425 million, and another $1.75 billion in support for Ukraine.

On the same day, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken explained that this package includes critical air defense and counter-drone capabilities to help Ukraine, as well as armored infantry vehicles and more equipment that Ukraine has been making effective use of, including Javelin antitank missiles, artillery ammunition, and conventional and long-range rockets for US-provided HIMARS.

The implication of these longrange arms is that Ukraine will have the ability to carry out attacks deeper into Russian territory.

In response, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Saturday that the more advanced US weaponry supply will only trigger more retaliatory strikes from Russia, up to the extent allowed by Russia’s nuclear doctrine, Reuters reported.

The NATO bloc is using a salamislicing tactic to send increased military aid to Ukraine. This could lead to another downward spiral for the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Cui Heng from the Center for Russian Studies of East China Normal University, told the Global Times.

Now that the US has crossed a line by providing Ukraine with longerrange rockets, other countries may follow suit, which could cause a lot of troubles, Zhang Hong, an associate research fellow at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

Chinese experts warned that if Russia suffered a large-scale attack on its territory, it is possible that it will use a nuclear counterattack.