West faces tough choices over support to Kyiv
WASHINGTON If Russia and Ukraine slide into outright war, the United States and allies will face tough choices on how to support a friendly state they have no intention of making a full Nato member.
In what appeared to be a dramatic escalation on Friday, Ukraine said it had destroyed much of a column of armoured vehicles that had entered its territory from Russia. Moscow dismissed the account as “fantasy”. Nato confirmed what it described as an “incursion”.
Ukraine did not specify if the vehicles were manned by Russian troops or separatist rebels, and it was not immediately clear if Russia would respond.
If Moscow ever took any such action against a Nato member, that would inevitably trigger the alliance’s Chapter 5 mutual defence clause, essentially committing it to war.
Ukraine, however, is not a member and Western officials say is unlikely to become one any time soon.
Washington and others have spent much of the last five months chastising the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin, describing its actions in Ukraine as unacceptable. They accuse Moscow of arming the rebels, a charge the Kremlin denies.
The reality, however, is that US and European leaders want to avoid a potentially nuclear superpower confrontation.
Direct military action by Nato states remains entirely off the table, current and former officials say. “The West is already pushing at the limits of what it feels it can do without finding itself in a serious confrontation with Russia,” said Samuel Charap, a former US State Department official, now a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
“There could be more sanctions, there could be more supportive of Ukrainians, but beyond that I really don’t see the US doing too much more.”