(NewsNation) — As Russian missile strikes target areas increasingly close to NATO borders and lines are being drawn over foreign weapon shipments, could Russian President Vladimir Putin be provoking further conflict with the United States?
“Vladimir Putin would like nothing more than for NATO to get involved in some way or for him to have some kind of excuse to make this about Russia versus NATO,” NewsNation host Leland Vittert said during an appearance on “Morning in America”. “That would play a whole lot better back home, where this war is becoming increasingly unpopular.”
Russia escalated its offensive Sunday by shelling areas close to the Polish border, including an air base critical to Ukraine’s defense.
“What you’re seeing, perhaps, is the Russians being willing to take more chances and be more aggressive,” said Vittert, who spent time reporting from within Ukraine in 2014, when Russia-backed militias were trying to take over parts of the country. “And this is par for the course when the Russians are backed into a corner; they tend to double down.”
A total of 35 people were killed and more than 130 were wounded in the attack on the military training base near Yavoriv, which is less than 15 miles from the Polish border.
“It’s certainly significant because this was the staging area for all of the NATO weapons that come across the border from Poland into Ukraine,” Vittert said. “So it has strategic value in and of itself as a base.”
The strike followed Russian threats that foreign weapon shipments to Ukrainian fighters will be considered legitimate targets for attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pleaded with Congress last weekend that if the U.S. was unwilling to impose a no-fly zone, it should at least send planes and other air support.
Rather than running for political cover as the Ukraine war worsens, lawmakers of both parties are pushing President Joe Biden to act more swiftly and forcefully to stop Putin’s invasion.
Republican senators have implored the Biden administration to reverse course and allow the transfer of Poland’s MiG fighter jets to the Ukrainians to fight the Russians.
“Send these MiGs,” said Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah.
Discussing the role of the United States in Ukraine, Ohio Republican U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson said, “There’s no way to limit this war to just Ukraine if we start engaging in combat.”
Biden spoke out quite pointedly against Russia’s tactics — and against sending U.S. troops into the conflict — in his State of the Union address.
Zelenskyy is set to deliver a virtual address to the U.S. Congress as the war intensifies. But as Zelenskyy ups his call for the West’s military involvement, can the U.S. help Ukraine while not intensifying tensions with Russia?
A report from Politico says the White House turned down a request from the Pentagon to send people in to train Ukrainian fighters in guerrilla warfare tactics.
“We don’t have enough time this morning to go through the list of all of the requests by the Ukrainians that the Biden administration turned down for not wanting to provoke Putin,” Vittert said. “And over the past couple of weeks, it’s become very clear that the overarching organizing principle for the Biden administration is, ‘Don’t provoke Putin.”
According to Vittert, whether or not Russia chooses to have its tensions intensified is a different question.
“There’s a there’s a feeling that perhaps, Vladimir Putin realizes that the overarching principle of the United States is to not provoke him,” Vittert said. “Putin, I guess he gets to decide on his own what does and does not provoke him.”
Vittert says Zelenskyy is realizing just how much Ukraine is on its own.
“So at the sight and slightest hint that NATO or the United States might become more involved,” Vittert said, “Vladimir Putin saber rattles a little bit. And then the United States backs off, certainly as they did about the fighter jets.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
