U.S. President Joe Biden indicated Tuesday that the U.S. may be moving to lift its restrictions on Ukraine’s use of long-range weapons in its war with Russia.
The U.S. has been steadfastly unwilling to supply or sanction Ukraine’s use of U.S.-supplied weapons that could strike deep into Russia, for fear of escalating the conflict.
Some of Ukraine’s allies have supplied Kyiv with such weapons, but the countries supplying the weapons have imposed restrictions on how and when the weapons can be used.
In response to a question Tuesday about whether the U.S. would lift restrictions on Ukraine using long-range weapons against Russia, Biden said his administration is “working that out now.”
Earlier Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also indicated in an interview with Sky News that there could be a U.S. shift in its stance on allowing Ukraine to use long-range missiles in Russia.
“We never rule out. But when we rule in, we want to make sure it’s done in such a way that it can advance what the Ukrainians are trying to achieve,” Blinken said.
Reuters reports that its unnamed sources said last week the U.S. was working on agreement giving Ukraine what it needs for its fight with Russia but reaching an agreement on all the issues in supplying the weapons would take several months.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily address Tuesday that Ukraine’s “absolute priority is just peace, and every missile, every drone, and all hostile moves, every attempt to make this war longer and more brutal will inevitably be met with a response from the world.”
He said Ukraine “will ensure the necessary unity of the world – no matter how difficult it is.”
Russia’s military said Tuesday it destroyed 144 Ukrainian aerial drones launched in overnight attacks targeting regions across western Russia.
Air defenses shot down 20 of the drones over the Moscow region, where Governor Andrey Vorobyov said drones damaged apartment buildings and homes in Lyubertsy and Ramenskoye. The attack killed at least one person and injured three others, Vorobyov said on Telegram.
Most of the intercepts took place over the Bryansk region along the Russia-Ukraine border, but officials there reported no damage or casualties after the 72 drones were shot down.
Russian air defenses also downed Ukrainian drones over the Kursk, Tula, Belgorod, Kaluga, Voronezh, Lipetsk and Oryol regions. The governors in most of those areas said on Telegram there were no reports of casualties.
Russia’s latest air assaults on Ukraine included using drones to target the Kyiv region, which has come under repeated attack this month.
Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said on Telegram that air alerts sounded for two hours Tuesday but that Ukrainian air defenses shot down all of the Russian drones directed at the capital.
Ukraine’s air force said Tuesday it shot down 38 of 46 drones used by Russia in overnight attacks.
The intercepts took place over the Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Sumy, Vinnytsia and Zaporizhzhia regions, the air force said.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said Monday it had summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires Shahriar Amouzegar to protest the possibility that Tehran is supplying Russia with ballistic missiles.
The ministry said on Telegram that it gave Amouzegar a harsh warning that confirmation of missile deliveries to Russia would have “devastating and irreparable consequences” for their bilateral relations.
The White House told VOA last week it was alarmed by unconfirmed Western news reports that an unprecedented Iranian transfer of missiles to Russia for use against Ukraine recently happened or would occur imminently.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that unnamed U.S. and European officials determined in recent days that Iran has delivered ballistic missiles to Russia in what would be a first for the growing military partnership of the two anti-Western allies.
The Kremlin has dismissed the reports, and Iranian officials Monday denied supplying Russia with missiles.
Some information for this story came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
