Sometimes it's hard to tell if President Joe Biden and his strategists are really trying to get Ukraine to win a defensive war against Russia.. Or they just want her to survive and sign a truce that will leave even more of her territory under Russian control..

This American ambiguity has again become a problem amid new Russian military achievements in the Donbass, writes in an editorial in the Wall Street Journal. On Monday, Russian troops entered the center of the city of Severodonetsk.. The publication calls the city one of the main Ukrainian defensive fortresses in the Donbass - the industrial heart of the country. The offensive began after ruthless artillery and rocket attacks on the city, which is already beginning to resemble the ruins of Mariupol.

Ukrainian defenders held the defense in Mariupol for many weeks, but were forced to stop resisting. Their fate is unknown. And one can only hope that they will be released through a prisoner exchange. But the termination of the defense of Mariupol allowed Russia to free up forces for an attack on Severodonetsk.. If the Russian troops win here too, this will give them additional forces to expand attacks on other fronts..

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The publication writes that the Russian side has an advantage in artillery and missiles.. The greater range of these weapons, as well as the quantitative advantage, allows the aggressor to inflict heavy losses on Ukrainian troops.. Ukrainian army received howitzers from the US. But she also needs missile systems capable of firing at long range.. The best defense against artillery is, in fact, its own artillery and air capabilities, including missiles. American systems could help reduce Russian artillery superiority and slow down the offensive.

The Pentagon has hinted that the United States may soon transfer some medium-range missile systems to Ukraine. But President Biden said on Sunday: “We are not going to send missile systems to Ukraine capable of hitting Russia.”.

“And here again, Biden assured Vladimir Putin that the United States would not do. The President did not elaborate, but apparently he is afraid that sending missiles could provoke Putin,” the newspaper writes, recalling that Ukraine has already destroyed weapons depots in Russia, which made it difficult for Moscow to send reinforcements to the Donbass..

The reluctance to transfer the necessary missile systems to the Ukrainian army, according to the Wall Street Journal, is in line with the White House's approach to Ukraine before the war and throughout it.. Another example is the refusal to assemble a coalition ready to break through the Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports to free up grain exports through the Black Sea.. Ukraine provides a significant part of the world with wheat and vegetable oil. And many leaders are warning that food shortages will drive prices up.. Food riots could break out in many countries.

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“Many countries in the world are dependent on Ukrainian grain. In the question of what we are doing now to solve this problem, the US Navy does not currently have ships in the Black Sea. And we are not going to send them there unless we are ordered to.. Commercial ships can’t get through there now either,” said U.S. Chief of Joint Staff Gen. Mark Milley..

The Wall Street Journal emphasizes that the United States is again making a “preventive concession” in this way, allowing Russia to put pressure on the Ukrainian economy with impunity, knowing for sure that the West will do nothing.. So win the war or achieve a truce on favorable terms for Kyiv will not work. Putin has not abandoned his intentions to overthrow the government in Kyiv and directly attack NATO. Biden's ambiguity in helping Ukraine encourages Russians to believe they can still score a strategic victory.