On May 19, 2024, former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland declared that Russian bases should be “fair game” for Ukraine to launch missile strikes against. This comes at a time when there is a heated debate about scrapping a prohibition on Ukraine’s use of American weapons at targets located inside of Russia. 

“I think there’s also a question of whether we, the United States and our allies, ought to give them more help in hitting Russian bases, which heretofore we have not been willing to do,” Nuland stated during an interview appearance on ABC News’s “This Week.”

When asked if she believes Ukraine should launching missile strikes against Russian bases, Nuland stated, “I think if the attacks are coming directly from over the line in Russia, that those bases ought to be fair game, whether they are where missiles are being launched from or where they are where troops are being supplied from.”

Russia has been recently launching its offensive against the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv in the neighboring Belgorod region. Several Ukrainian officials contended that the attacks could have been foiled if they had been allowed to launch attacks against targets in Belgorod.

Nuland argued on May 19 that the attacks in Kharkiv have shown that it “is time” for the US government to help Ukraine to launch attacks against Russian bases.

“I think it’s time for that, because Russia has obviously escalated this war, including, as you said, at the beginning, attacking Russia’s second city, Kharkiv, which is not on the front lines, and trying to decimate it without ever having to put a boot on the ground,” Nuland remarked. “So I think it is time to give the Ukrainians more help hitting these bases inside Russia.”

Ukrainian leaders have been particularly vocal about how their own weapons systems are not as effective at attacking military targets in Russia as American-manufactured weapons.

“This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz continued asking Nuland on why she believes carrying out attacks against Russian bases is a good idea.

“Because it’s Russia that has escalated this war. Russia has learned how to pull its forces back out of the range where we have allowed Ukraine to use our weapons and get our support,” Nuland replied. “So, they are getting a direct advantage in this war from our hesitation, and they have escalated massively.”

On top of that, Nuland argued that the multiple months of delays of American aid to Ukraine played a role in Russia’s recent gains on the battlefield. After over a year of stalemate in Congress, elected officials passed a national security bill in April that sent $61 billion in military aid to Ukraine.

“I think [Ukraine] can certainly turn this around, Martha. But the six-month delay certainly made a difference. The front line for Ukraine needs the artillery that we are sending,” Nuland stated “They need more air defenses. They need to be able to stop these Russian attacks that are coming from bases inside Russia.”

Nuland stepped down from her position in the Biden regime back in March. She has been the target of criticism from anti-war and non-interventionist activists for her role fomenting the Euromaidan Revolution of 2014 that laid the groundwork for Russia’s eventual invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. She is part of the most unhinged elements of the broader neoconservative/neoliberal interventionist movement. 

In a saner political order, the likes of Nuland would be shunned from polite society and reduced to pauper status.