Will Biden let Ukraine attack inside Russia using US weapons?

The new urgency from Kiev, which is still waiting for crucial US military aid, has led a growing list of Western officials to support the idea of ​​removing restrictions on attacking targets inside Russia.

For much of the war, Kiev’s partners drew a solid red line on allowing Ukraine to use the weapons it supplies inside Russian territory, fearing an escalation by the Kremlin that could turn the conflict into a Third World War.

The Biden administration has been consistent in this stance, perhaps concerned that Russian President Vladimir Putin could retaliate using nuclear weapons – which he has regularly threatened during the conflict.

But with Ukraine outnumbered, outgunned and at a disadvantage, Kiev has publicly advocated for its allies to loosen their restrictions.

And it seems to be working.

French President Emmanuel Macron became the latest supporter of the idea on Tuesday. He suggested that Ukraine should be allowed to strike military targets inside Russia from which missiles were being fired into Ukrainian territory, an apparently compromise position.

He was joined by German leader Olaf Scholz, who resisted the idea but agreed to the concept on Tuesday.

This follows repeated calls by NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg to allow Ukraine to use Western-supplied weapons to strike targets inside Russia, saying that failure to do so undermines Kiev’s ability “to defend itself”. It is a view shared by several European members of the alliance, including the United Kingdom, Sweden and Poland.

In previous debates within the Biden administration over how far to go in arming Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and CIA Director William Burns have taken a bolder stance, supporting the supply of long-range missiles and other weapons — and often prevailed after appeals from European lawmakers and governments.

And on Wednesday, Blinken appeared to leave room for change on this issue as well.

“We do not encourage or permit attacks outside of Ukraine. Ukraine, as I have said before, has to make its own decisions about how best to defend itself effectively,” he said during a trip to Europe that will include a NATO meeting on Thursday. A “hallmark” of U.S. support for Ukraine, he said, “has been adaptation.”

“As conditions have changed, as the battlefield has changed, as what Russia does has changed,” Blinken added. “We have also adapted and adjusted and I am confident we will continue to do so.”