Biden felt that Putin was bluffing and paying less and less attention to Russian "red lines", writes The Washington Post
Threats by the president of the occupying Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, to "punish" the West for supplying arms to Ukraine have already turned out to be empty words several times. Therefore, the US president continues to cross Russian "red lines", while demonstrating a "growing appetite", writes The Washington Post on June 1.
WP recalls that at the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Putin said that any country that tried to "interfere" with his plans should know that Russia's response would be "immediate" and lead to consequences that "you never never seen in history".
As the war dragged on, the warnings from Putin and his underlings became, according to the paper, increasingly "stuffy," including threats and hints of using nuclear weapons if Russia faced setbacks on the battlefield.
The WP article points out that Russia has repeatedly devalued its "red lines" by saying that certain things are unacceptable and doing nothing when they happen.
According to American officials, a possible explanation for Putin's reluctance to strike the West is the deteriorating condition of the Russian army, which suffered "staggering" losses as a result of the invasion of Ukraine and is not well equipped to carry out Putin's threats.
According to American officials on the condition of anonymity, the key reason for ignoring Putin's "red lines" is precisely his failure to fulfill previous threats, although the president of the occupying country has repeatedly promised to "punish" the West for providing weapons to Ukraine.
Putin's bluff has given American and European leaders confidence that they can continue to support Ukraine without serious consequences, the publication notes.
Biden's determination is growing, and despite Russian warnings that supplying weapons to Ukraine would allegedly lead to a world war, the US president continues to defy Putin. The Washington Post calls the line chosen by the American leader a strategy that "brings both risk and reward."
The publication emphasizes that Biden's decision to help Ukraine in obtaining F-16 fighter jets, made in May, was another crossing of the Russian "red line", which, according to Putin, was supposed to change the war and involve Washington and Moscow in a direct conflict.
WP reminds that, despite the warnings of the president of the occupying country, the USA consistently decided to strengthen Ukraine first with Javelin and Stinger missiles, then with HIMARS multiple-launch rocket systems, advanced anti-missile defense systems, drones, helicopters, M1 Abrams tanks, and soon with the fourth generation.
The publication concludes that the readiness of the Biden administration to cross Putin's "red lines" "definitely" strengthened Ukraine's ability to defend itself and win back territories in the east and south. However, The Washington Post notes, it remains unclear whether Putin will continue to allow the West to ignore his threats with impunity.
We will remind that the USA provides aid to Ukraine mainly under the system of "presidential reduction" of the Pentagon's stockpiles. In addition, the US is helping Ukraine under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) in the longer term - by concluding contracts with the industry for the production of weapons.
According to the Pentagon data as of May 31, since the beginning of the Biden administration in 2021, the United States has allocated $38.3 billion for security assistance to Ukraine, including $37.6 billion since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia.
Separately, the United States passed a lend-lease law for Ukraine, according to which the United States will be able to lend or lease defense equipment to Ukraine and other Eastern European countries. The Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States, Oksana Markarova, explained that the US Department of Defense currently uses programs for the free transfer of weapons for defense assistance to Ukraine, and Lend-Lease is an additional tool that will be used in case of need.
The USA also provides financial and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
At the G7 summit held on May 19-21, United States President Joe Biden announced that the United States would support the efforts of allies and partners and participate in the training of Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation aircraft, including the F-16. Ukraine will receive F-16 fighter jets from allies on the condition that the planes, like other Western weapons, will not be used for strikes on the territory of Russia, the White House announced on May 20.
