Despite nuclear confrontation being a deadly serious subject, Washington continues to dance around the subject. First, London’s Foreign Secretary David Cameron had attempted to up the ante on Russia, telling Kyiv that it is fine to use British weapons to attack not only Crimea, but other targets in pre-2014 Russia. Defense Secretary Grant Shapps made clear that Washington has to follow London’s lead. Moscow made clear that Cameron had crossed the red line and that British military sites would then become targets in Ukraine “and beyond.” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken then tried to finesse matters in Kyiv on May 15, adhering to the London line, but in a less direct fashion. He said that Washington has “not encouraged or enabled strikes outside of Ukraine, but ultimately Ukraine has to make decisions for itself about how it’s going to conduct this war.”
Then the next day, May 16, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh made comments that have been reported as walking back Blinken’s permission; however, a simple examination of [her press conference]("https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/3778372/deputy-pentagon-press-secretary-sabrina-singh-holds-a-press-briefing/) makes clear that that is exactly what she did not do. Instead, Kyiv has the permission to hit the territory of pre-2014 Russia with U.S. weaponry. First, when asked whether the U.S., given the Kharkiv offensive, would now “consider” allowing U.S. weapons to hit “across the border,” Singh certainly gave what sounded like a rejection of Cameron’s position: “Yes, we haven’t changed our position. We believe that the equipment … should be used to take back Ukrainian sovereign territory.” (Of course, that suggests hitting Crimea, but not pre-2014 Russia.)
