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Pressure is building on President Joe Biden, including from within his own party, to loosen the restrictions on Ukraine’s use of US-provided weapons to strike deep inside Russia.
Democratic Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ben Cardin released a statement Wednesday calling for the restrictions to be eased, in light of “Vladimir Putin’s relentless attacks on Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure,” that he called “horrifying.”
“Given these escalating attacks, the time has come to ease restrictions on Ukrainian’s use of U.S.-provided weapons. Greater flexibility to target Russian military assets will degrade Moscow’s ability to harm the Ukrainian people. The United States must act swiftly to grant these permissions,” the Maryland Democrat wrote.
Cardin’s statement, released as Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Kyiv, adds to a growing chorus of those calling Biden to allow Kyiv to strike deep within Russia. The Ukrainian government, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, has repeatedly been making the appeal.
Although the US has shifted its policy to allow limited cross-border strikes into Russia using US-provided weapons, the administration has yet to allow longer-ranger strikes. Officials have expressed concern about the potential for escalation and have argued that any one capability will be decisive in the war. A US official told CNN Tuesday that US intelligence shows that Russia has moved a number of assets outside of the reach of long-range strikes.
On Tuesday, the bipartisan congressional Ukraine caucus called on Biden to allow Ukraine to strike targets inside Russia with the long-range weapons.
“Unless these restrictions are lifted, Ukraine will continue to struggle to achieve victory in its fight to defend its sovereignty and its people. The Ukrainian people will continue to suffer unnecessary death, loss, and hardship as Russia capitalizes on this policy and escalates its bombardments across Ukraine,” the bipartisan lawmakers wrote.
A group of key House Republican also urged Biden to ease the restrictions in a letter on Monday. In a separate open letter, 17 former national security officials, including former US ambassadors to Ukraine and top military commanders, called Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy to “act with alacrity.”
“A change in policy cannot come soon enough,” they wrote.
On Tuesday, asked if the US will lift the restrictions, Biden answered, “we’re working that out right now.”
Two US officials later told CNN that the Biden administration is not anticipating any policy changes when it comes to lifting restrictions.
Still, others have said that the debate over the matter is ongoing. US officials expect Blinken, who is traveling to Ukraine with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, to gather information during his trip to Kyiv on how these longer-range strikes would factor into Ukraine’s broader battlefield strategy.
