US general: Washington needs to supply arms to Ukraine to strike Russia

A US brigadier general has called on the US and allies to send weapons to Ukraine that it can use to carry out strikes on Russian territory amid the ongoing war.

Mark Arnold made the call in an interview with the Ukrainian Channel 24 that was published Tuesday [August 30], saying that he was not just referring to the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula in saying that Russian territory should be targeted, Newsweek reports.

"The USA and NATO say do not strike on the territory of Russia, but this is nonsense," he said. "The beginning of the end of the Russian army in Ukraine is the destruction of the supply line of fuel, ammunition and equipment. This must be done both on the border and hundreds of kilometres deep into Russia. In order to do this, NATO needs to change its policy, and abandon the theses about the prohibition of strikes on Russian territories. It is necessary to give Ukraine such weapons that could crush the Russians in them."

While the US and other NATO nations have not become directly involved in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, they have sent weapons like the US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and other aid to Ukraine.

In a joint press conference with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in early June, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Ukraine had provided the US with assurances that American-supplied weapons systems would not be used for strikes on Russian territory, the Guardian reported.

The HIMARS Ukraine has received have gained widespread attention for its effectiveness in striking Russian targets in recent weeks. But the use of these or other heavy weapons supplied from outside Ukraine to attack inside Russian territory may increase the risk of more countries being pulled into the conflict.

Before the US officially confirmed news reports that it was planning to send rocket systems to Ukraine, Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoliy Antonov called for an "end to the senseless and extremely risky pumping of weapons into the country".

Noting in a Telegram post that the US may give HIMARS and M270 MLRS (multiple launch rocket systems) to Ukraine, Antonov said that there was "a risk that such equipment will be placed near Russia's borders and Ukrainians will be able to strike at Russian cities. Such a situation is unacceptable and intolerable for us".

Russian President Vladimir Putin has not directly threatened to attack any other countries during the war, though he has said that any nations that "create a strategic threat to Russia" in Ukraine can expect "retaliatory strikes".

When asked in the interview what additional US and NATO weapons would be most effective in helping Ukraine win the war, Arnold listed long-range HIMARS missiles, combat drones, aircraft that are in service with NATO, and what he described as a powerful anti-missile defence system. He noted that all of these could require an "intensive training" of Ukrainian troops that could take a year or longer.

Newsweek reached out to the US State Department and to Arnold via the Special Forces Association Ohio Chapter, for which he serves as president, for comment.