2024-08-18 10:24:41
Ukraine is reaping huge political benefits from its military offensive in western Russia, but the incursion does not change the West’s position that the conflict should not escalate, Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Szemoniak said in an interview with Reuters.
Ukraine says it has seized more than 80 villages in an area of 1,150 square kilometers in Kursk Oblast since August 6 in the biggest invasion of Russia since World War II, BTA reports.
The Reuters agency notes that it could not confirm the information about the development of events on the battlefield through an independent source.
“This offensive does not change the West’s attitude against escalation,” Shemoniak said when asked if Kiev’s military successes could change the position of its allies on the use of the weapons they supply for the war with Russia.
Western governments, which began providing military aid to Ukraine after the Russian invasion began in February 2022, have so far refused to allow the Ukrainian military to use long-range weapons because of fears of escalation.
“I think that for Western countries, this is an event that will change the image of Ukraine – in less than two weeks, Kiev has achieved great political successes,” noted the Polish interior minister.
For now, the U.S. considers the entry of Ukrainian troops into the Kursk region a defensive move in which Kiev can use American equipment, U.S. officials said this week. However, they expressed concerns about possible complications as Ukrainian forces advance further into enemy territory.
Warsaw is one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Ukraine had every right to take military action in a way that would effectively paralyze Russia.
The US and Western powers, keen to avoid a direct military confrontation with Russia, have said that Ukraine did not notify them in advance and that Washington had nothing to do with the Ukrainian offensive in the Kursk region.