“The price of delay is measured in the lives of people who protected the world from Russian fascism.” The Ukrainian commander-in-chief Valeriy Saluschnyj does not address this warning to Germany, but to the USA. And he combines them with the demand for weapons that can hit the enemy over long distances.

Now Joe Biden’s government is apparently actually considering the delivery of missile systems with a range of up to 300 kilometers. In any case, the broadcaster CNN quotes government officials in this way. It is a threat to Vladimir Putin and an attempt to, at least rhetorically, once again strengthen Ukraine. Because in the east of the country their troops are facing a dramatic defeat. And threats can be delivered faster than missiles.

But whoever threatens also risks the suspicion that in case of doubt it would be better not to act. In this case, the US representatives express their doubts at the same time as the threat. According to CNN, they fear that the Ukrainian army could also use such weapons to shell Russian territory.

A Putin tasked with defending his homeland could wage an even broader war. German pacifists may suddenly feel vindicated here. Do the Americans themselves now realize that their arms deliveries are only making things worse? This fallacy can only be drawn by those who ignore the current threat.

At the beginning of the battle in Donbass, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned of a Russian breakthrough if Kyiv did not quickly receive more effective weapons. He didn’t get it and what he had warned about happened. So the West now finds itself in the dilemma that speaks from the strangely dubious threat from Washington: There are fewer and fewer options with which a Russian triumph can be prevented without risking a threatening escalation of the war.

If the Russian troops in Donbass had been stopped earlier, this situation would not have arisen. So the fear of an escalation has increased the danger.