A meme has been going around on Ukrainian social media lately that, loosely translated, says if the United States will only let Ukraine use its long-range missiles a limited distance from the Russian border, well then, simply move the border.

After two and one-half years of war unleashed by Russian president Vladimir Putin, the Ukrainian people apparently find humor where and when they can.

But there is no mistaking the seriousness of intent in Ukraine’s recent counterattack on Russia’s Kursk region, nor the historic significance of this first major foreign incursion into Russia since World War II, when the same region was the scene of an epic tank battle between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany in 1943.

The current successful offensive has certainly been a boon to the morale of Ukrainian civilians and troops, a shock to Putin, and a surprise to official Washington — presumably not an unhappy one — which had indeed kept the Ukrainian military on a short leash when it came to the deployment of US-donated weaponry at or near the Russian border.

The Biden administration imposed the handcuffs because it didn’t want to escalate the war or come into open conflict with nuclear-armed Russia. But the rules, which continue to limit the use of some types of US weapons on Russian territory, also have the effect of limiting Ukraine’s military options.

Counterattacking the nation that launched a war against it is fully within Ukraine’s rights. And while Ukraine claims to have captured 93 settlements and occupies some 490 square miles of Russian territory (a claim Russia disputes), there seems to be no intention for a permanent annexation, but rather an attempt to use the captured territory as a possible bargaining chip in future peace negotiations.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in his Sunday evening address, said the operation was intended to create “a buffer zone on the aggressor’s territory.”

“Everything that inflicts losses on the Russian army, Russian state, their military-industrial complex, and their economy helps prevent the war from expanding and brings us closer to a just end to this aggression,” Zelensky said.

John Kirby, the US’s national security communications advisor, said that if Ukraine’s incursion into the western Russian region made Putin uncomfortable, “there’s an easy solution: He can just get the hell out of Ukraine and call it a day.”

Kirby did confirm earlier that “There’s been no changes in our policy approaches,” relative to the use of US weapons.

“They’re using it in an area where we had said before that they could use US weapons for cross-border strikes. The end goal here is to help Ukraine defend itself.”

Critical to the success of the offensive thus far has been the US-provided High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), mobile and capable of lobbing rockets and destroying Russian weaponry within a range of about 50 miles.

But it’s often not enough — hence that popular meme. The United States has not given permission to use other weapons systems, limiting Ukraine’s ability to protect itself.

The day before the Ukrainian offensive began, Yehor Cherniev, deputy chair of the Ukrainian Parliament’s Committee on National Security, Defense, and Intelligence, told the Globe editorial board: “Historically, Russia has built its airfields near its western border, so we’ve been asking for the lifting of restrictions on the use of long-range weapons. They’ve been sending guided bombs over the border that we haven’t been able to intercept.

“Every day it’s the same,” he added, “We can’t survive in the trenches forever. We have the missiles but it’s like fighting with one hand tied behind your back.”

The real lesson of the Kursk incursion is that Ukraine has, by all accounts, shown it can plan and carry out a successful offensive with one hand tied behind its back — an operational hindrance that it has now certainly earned the right to have removed by the West.

Ukraine still faces an existential threat — this moment of triumph notwithstanding. But at the very least it has provided not just a buffer zone, as Zelensky has acknowledged, but a valuable commodity in any future peace negotiation.

— Boston Globe