431
submitted 4 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world
  • Ukraine destroyed columns of waiting Russian soldiers with HIMARS, a Ukrainian commander said.
  • He said Ukraine targeted them as soon as it got permission to use allied weapons across the border.
  • Military experts say Ukraine's ability to use Western-supplied weapons in Russia is aiding its fightback.
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Weirdmusic@lemmy.world 13 points 4 months ago

Ukraine has both tactical and strategic plans for striking Russian oil and gas facilities. Strategically it's important to hit these facilities as reducing output results in a long term slowdown in Russia's ability to wage war on its neighbours. Tactically it's a way of both boosting Ukrainian morale and also (most interestingly) forcing the US to help resupply Ukraine.

By reducing Russian production, Ukraine is pushing up oil and gas prices which affects the World and, more importantly, the US economy. Due to the US election cycle, inflation is a hot button topic in the US ATM and the Biden administration will do just about anything it can to reduce its impact on the upcoming Presidential election.

It's entirely valid to conclude that the Ukrainian's can bring pressure on the US to provide military aid by attaching Russian oil and gas assets.

Let me be clear: I'm on the side of the Ukrainians.

[-] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

I'm not following. The first part makes sense, but wouldn't driving gas up make Ukraine less popular and less likely to get US aid?

[-] Weirdmusic@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

That's a good question. The answer lies not so much about the general popularity and sympathy for Ukraine but rather the amount of pressure Ukraine can exert on the the present US administration to leverage more military aid.

The Ukrainians are aware of the level of sympathy they have in the US as the plucky underdog in this conflict. Striking oil and gas targets deep inside Russia doesn't diminish this but rather underlines and reinforces the situation. However, reducing the supply of oil and gas impacts the price of oil and gas and has a knock on effect on inflation.

The majority of Americans don't consciously make that connection, they just feel the pinch in their hip pocket. For better or worse inflation is commonly viewed as domestic issue and this is reinforced by the retoric of those on the right of US politics. So, for many inflation is Joe Biden's fault.

Therefore, by attacking these targets or threatening to, the Ukrainians can bring the very real pressure on the Biden administration. The President has to continue to show support to the Ukrainians (both moral and materiel) while attempting to rein in the Ukrainians ability and desire to strike deeply at oil and gas targets in Russia.

It appears that this delicate balancing game is ongoing with the US administration pressuring their opponents in the Congress to back down on defunding the Ukrainians while at the same time convincing the Ukrainians to back off a little and focus more on military targets.

this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2024
431 points (98.4% liked)

World News

38970 readers
2175 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS