Why the West is afraid to allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russian territory – an American officer explains

The West refrains from granting Ukraine permission to strike deep into Russian territory due to a fear of non-existent red lines.

This view was expressed exclusively to TSN.ua by Dr. Liam Collins, a senior fellow at New America, a career Special Forces officer who served in the U.S. Army for 27 years, and who worked as the executive officer to the senior U.S. defense advisor in Ukraine from 2016 to 2018.

"Western countries have adhered to self-restraint for decades and fear imaginary red lines that do not exist," he noted.

Collins reminded that he was part of an advisory group that recommended supplying Javelin missiles to Ukraine back in 2017. At that time, many American officials opposed this recommendation, fearing that Russia might escalate the situation. However, this did not happen.

"Russia took 11 months to capture the tactically insignificant city of Bakhmut, deploying all it had. In simple terms, Russia lacks the capability to escalate further," the American military expert said.

In his view, the only way Russia might escalate further is through the use of nuclear weapons. However, Collins is confident that Putin would never take such a step unless NATO intervened directly in the war.

"If you delve into what Putin says, Russia will never use nuclear weapons unless the U.S. or NATO are directly involved in the war. But even then, it is doubtful that he (Putin - Ed.) would use them, especially if only conventional Russian forces are engaged in defense on the battlefield in Ukraine. He will not escalate, no matter how many systems the West provides to Ukraine or where Ukraine uses them (i.e., inside Russia - Ed)," the American officer said.

According to Collins, Western leaders are afraid of nuclear escalation by Russia, but this fear is completely unfounded as Russia has demonstrated restraint on this issue for decades. He believes that Russia itself does not desire nuclear escalation, "but Western leaders are unwilling to acknowledge this."

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