Calls grow for Biden admin to allow Ukraine to strike Russia with U.S. weapons

Russia has been bombarding Ukraine with air assaults and missiles originating from the Russian mainland that have destroyed critical infrastructure as well as military targets.

Calls are growing from U.S. lawmakers and former government officials urging the Biden administration to allow Ukraine to strike military targets within Russia with U.S.-supplied weapons, despite fears that doing so risks escalating the war with Moscow.

Russia has been bombarding Ukraine with air assaults and missiles originating from the Russian mainland that have destroyed critical infrastructure as well as military targets. At the same time, Russian forces have launched a fierce offensive along the eastern border, which Ukraine’s depleted forces are struggling to repel.

A Russian missile attack on Kharkiv — Ukraine’s second-largest city, which has been under siege in recent weeks — killed at least seven people early Thursday.

The U.S. began supplying long-range missile systems, known as ATACMS, earlier this year, before Congress approved US$60 billion in new military and financial aid following months of delay. The bill included a provision forcing the Biden administration to send Ukraine additional ATACMS, which have long been sought by Kyiv.

Gen. Charles Q. Brown, chair of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a discussion hosted by the Atlantic Council that Ukraine already has the capability to strike Russian targets — just not with U.S.-supplied weapons.

He declined to say whether that will change.

“We will continue to have dialogue on this,” he said.

Ukraine has attacked some Russian military and energy facilities with drones and long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles supplied by the United Kingdom. U.K. Foreign Secretary David Cameron said this month that Ukraine has the right to hit back at Russia with London-supplied weapons “just as Russia is striking inside Ukraine” with weapons from Iran and North Korea.