It's time for boots on the ground but ony in western Ukraine

Nato must not be scared of Vladmir Putin over his threat to use nuclear weapons and should now send troops into western Ukraine to mount humanitarian assistance operations and establish a forward supply base, a former top US commander in Europe has said. As more heavy weapons are sent to the region to help Ukraine confront the Russian troops, General Philip Breedlove, supreme allied commander Europe from 2013 to 2016, told The Times in an interview that it was time to stand up to Putin “We must respect the fact that Putin might use nukes but we shouldn’t be paralysed by it,” he said. “Would his use of tactical nukes in Ukraine be a tipping point for Nato and the EU and the world? We have nukes and I’m not being flippant. We have to take action to deter him. Otherwise Putin’s deterrence is working extremely well for him. Multiple world leaders have said we’re not going to fight the Russians in Ukraine,” the general said. “So they have all been deterred by Putin. But if we reward him (by doing nothing) then that will lead to more bad behaviour. It will take a policy decision to say: enough is enough,” he said. “But the West didn’t get to that point after Bucha (the town outside Kyiv where hundreds of civilians were reportedly slaughtered) and not after Mariupol,” he said. Breedlove, 66, one of several high-ranking retired commanders advising the Biden administration on Ukraine, asked:“So what could the West do? Well, right now there are no Russian troops west of the Dnieper River. So why don’t we put Nato troops into western Ukraine to carry out humanitarian missions and to set up a forward arms supply base? “The Ukrainians have been screaming for humanitarian assistance. Why don’t we go in and help? But most importantly, what is the one thing Putin wants? He wants a land bridge to Moldova, and for that he needs to take Odesa. We did nothing to stop the fall of Mariupol. What has the West done to make sure Odesa doesn’t fall? Again, nothing. “Odesa is vital for Ukraine and for its economy. If Odesa falls, Ukraine will become a land-locked country with no access to the Black Sea. The impact on Ukraine’s GDP would be huge. It would be ruinous for the economy. “The West is saying it is providing everything Ukraine needs to defend against the Russians. But the people of Mariupol had to fight without Stingers (anti-aircraft missiles]. That was a failure by the West.” “Now we need to make sure that the Ukrainians win the battle for Odesa. The arms sent didn’t get to Mariupol because the West was too slow and by the time they arrived, the Russians were already encircling Mariupol. “Odesa isn’t encircled. So we must make sure the arms get to Odesa such as coastal defence cruise missiles and the [Slovakia-supplied] S-300 air defence system. Also long-range artillery. And we need to make sure they have enough food stockpiled. Is the world prepared to defend Odesa and to prevent what happened to Mariupol?” What might provoke Putin into using tactical nuclear weapons? “I don’t think Putin will make the kind of decision to move to a new level because of the arms supplies the West is providing,” Breedlove said. “But I believe his threshold may be reached if one of two events happen: First, he has taken a sound whipping and he’s trying to hide that fact from his internal audience. Most of the Russian people don’t know about it. The intelligencia know what’s going on but Putin controls the information flow. “So what if he can no longer control the message in Russia? For example, the first batch of conscripts are due back next month but many of them will not be coming back. How is Putin going to deal with that? “Second, if he suffers another major defeat, this time in the east in the Donbas region, that could be another tipping point. I think the sinking of the Moskva [Russia’s flagship cruiser in the Black Sea] nearly got him to that point. I don’t think Putin’s threshold moment will be about the amount or type of arms the West supplies. It’s more about what the effects are on the battlefield.” “I don’t believe either side can win,” the general said. “The Ukrainians can whip them again but they can’t expel the Russians from Ukraine. Some people believe that the Russians have the stamina to go on for a long time but I disagree. The Russians have a lot more equipment to bring to the battlefield but they don’t have the soldiers to man them.” “I agree with the remarks made by the head of the CIA (William Burns) when he took seriously Putin’s threat to use nuclear weapons,” Breedlove said. “But I disagree that we should be paralysed by that threat. “Look at history. Three American administrations had to face the Russians and stood up to them: Obama eliminated a battalion of troops from the [Russian mercenary] Wagner Group in Syria [the Battle of Khasham in eastern Syria in February, 2018], George W Bush flew supplies to Georgia [after Russian troops occupied two provinces in 2008] and Kennedy stood firm in the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.” None of these incidents led to war with Russia.