Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that President Joe Biden may allow Ukraine to use U.S.-made weapons to strike a wider range of targets in Russia, beyond attacks he has approved on launch sites used by Russia. Attack in the Erkov area.
“Going forward, we will continue to do what we have always done: adjust and adapt as needed,” Blinken told a news conference in Prague after a two-day meeting of top diplomats. Atlantic Treaty Organization member states.
Blinken was responding to a reporter’s question about whether the United States might allow Ukraine to use U.S.-made weapons further into Russia. Blinken used the words “adapt and adjust” during a news conference in Chisinau, Moldova on Wednesday, suggesting Biden was about to make a major policy shift and allow Ukraine to use the weapons to attack Ukraine. Russia has been urging for weeks.
U.S. officials said Thursday that Biden had made the decision in recent days and informed the Ukrainians, but that permission to launch attacks in Russia was limited to the locations the Russians used to attack Kharkiv. U.S. officials said a ban on Ukraine using weapons to carry out “long-range” attacks against Russia has not changed.
But Blinken’s comments on Friday suggested the ban could change, depending on changing battlefield conditions and the direction of the war. He did say, however, that the United States was “acting cautiously and effectively.” This includes ensuring that Ukrainian soldiers receive the necessary training to use new weapons systems and the ability to maintain them, he said.
U.S. officials said the policy shift meant Ukraine could preemptively use U.S. weapons to attack Russia, but only in Pentagon-designated areas of Russia near Kharkiv that U.S. military officials have already conducted with their Ukrainian counterparts. communicate.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told a separate news conference in Prague on Friday that he welcomed the easing of restrictions on Ukraine and that top diplomats from allied governments have made progress in discussions on Ukraine in the past. Made some progress in two days.
He said they agreed that NATO should play a greater coordinating role in all military assistance to Ukraine and that member states should strive to provide at least 40 billion euros, or about $43 billion, in aid per year “for as long as necessary.” This would give Ukraine predictability when planning its long-term defense, he added.
Diplomats also agreed to work to shorten Ukraine’s path to NATO membership, he said, without giving further details.
Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to attack narrow targets in Russia comes after weeks of discussions with the Ukrainians and at the urging of key European allies. In close meetings in Washington this month, his top aides discussed the benefits and potential consequences of giving Ukraine more leeway to use U.S.-made weapons.
Blinken has pushed hard for the clearance to be granted to the Ukrainians, and other top officials have agreed, including national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and Chairman Gen. Charles Q. Brown. . U.S. officials said they made recommendations to Biden and that he understood the need.
Blinken met with Biden and Sullivan at the White House three days after visiting Kyiv on May 14. He stressed the need to relax restrictions on the use of US-made weapons in Ukraine to better defend the Kharkiv region.
Russia has been on the offensive in the region since early May and has used launch sites within its territory to launch attacks on Ukraine. Ukrainians argue they need to be able to use powerful weapons to counter artillery, missile launchers and air bases. Some Russian aircraft are launching glide bombs in Russian airspace, attacking targets around Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city.
On May 20, Ukrainian President Zelensky said in an interview with the New York Times in Kiev that Russia’s ability to conduct transnational attacks gives it a “huge advantage” in war. Ukraine has struck inside Russia with drones and other non-U.S.-made weapons, but the United States is by far the largest supplier of more powerful weapons that Ukrainian commanders say could be useful.
Biden has not eased restrictions in large part because U.S. officials are concerned that Russian President Vladimir Putin could use tactical nuclear warheads in Ukraine. This anxiety peaked in October 2022 and then subsided due to intelligence assessments of Russian military actions surrounding the country’s nuclear arsenal. European officials have said for months that their intelligence assessment showed that Putin was not as likely to use nuclear weapons as Americans thought.
U.S. officials say the leaders of China and India, both big buyers of Russian oil, have warned Putin not to cross the line with nuclear weapons, which has factored into Americans’ calculations recently. While India remains neutral in the war, China is by far Russia’s most important partner, helping Russia rebuild its military base by exporting machinery, production tools, chips and other microelectronics, according to U.S. officials. (Blinken noted on Friday that the United States has imposed sanctions on more than 100 Chinese entities that aid Russia and said he wanted to “see the Europeans take action.”)
U.S. officials also believe that the Russians believed for some time that the U.S. had given Ukraine significant latitude in using weapons. Therefore, achieving this goal is not as provocative as U.S. officials previously believed.
The NATO Prague meeting is a planning session for the leaders’ summit in Washington in July to mark the 75th anniversary of NATO’s founding. Officials said they would make more substantive announcements on Ukraine’s defense at that time.
Blinken said Biden and other leaders would reveal details of a “robust package of support” for Ukraine at the summit.
“Our goal now is to build a bridge that brings Ukraine closer and ultimately to NATO,” he said. “As I said, I think you’ll see that bridge appear at the top of the mountain.”
