Originally Posted by
melmothtw
I think the West has to provide Ukraine with the means to strike inside Russia, otherwise Russia is safe in the knowledge it can 'stand back' and launch unending waves of cruise missiles/suicide drones into Ukraine without fear of any comeback.
I think the Ukrainians have shown they can be trusted with their targeting, and to not strike centres of population. The first target should be Putin's dacha on the Black Sea, followed by every Russian air base and military installation within range. At the same time as providing this capability, the West should remind Russia that it is not the only nuclear power in the region should it think about escalating the conflict.
I think what many outsiders (like me) might be wondering is: how to stop the missiles at their source or at least at launch. So we've seen that with the right anti-ship missiles the ship based launchers can be attacked (and why is that not getting priority?) but what about those Tu-95 bombers? Why isn't the West able to help Ukraine put those at risk? Obviously I suppose that range is the number 1 reason and if there are any others perhaps it's best not to talk about them at all. As a civvie I just wonder about that stuff because it seems much more effective to put those aircraft out of operation somehow rather than shoot down all their missiles.