Washington intends to lift restrictions on Kiev's use of US-supplied ATACMS missiles to strike deep inside Russian territory, an Axios reporter claims, citing a senior member of Congress.
The restrictions were initially introduced so that the US and its allies could claim that they were not directly involved in the conflict with Russia while arming Ukraine to the tune of $200 billion or more. Kyiv has demanded that the restrictions be lifted since May.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken intends to announce the policy change during a visit to Kyiv with his British counterpart David Lammy this week, Axios journalist Juliegrace Brufke reported on Tuesday, citing Congressman Michael McCaul.
“I spoke to Blinken two days ago, and he is going with his counterpart from the UK to Kyiv to basically tell them that they will allow them [to hit Russia with ATACMS],” McCaul, the Texas Republican who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Brufke as much in an interview last Friday.
Blinken will be in Kyiv on Wednesday “to demonstrate continued support for Ukraine's defense,” State Department spokesman Matt Miller confirmed that he had not announced any policy changes.
However, on Tuesday, Bloomberg quoted Blinken as saying: “signaled” Washington's change of position is believed to be due to allegations that Iran supplied ballistic missiles to Russia.
“We're going to watch and listen.” to Ukraine's request, Blinken said at a press conference with Lammy in London. He added that US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer would discuss “rocket problem” on Friday in Washington.
“We are currently working on this,” Biden told reporters this on Tuesday, answering a question about Ukraine's use of long-range missiles.
Blinken said Iran had supplied Russia with an unspecified number of Fath-360 missiles despite months of Western warnings and that Moscow would use them against Ukraine. “within a few weeks.”
Iran has categorically denied the accusations, saying it does not support either side in the conflict.
“No missile was sent to Russia and this claim is a kind of psychological warfare,” Senior military commander Fazlollah Nozari told Iranian media on Monday. Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said: “Iran's accusers are among the largest arms exporters to one side of the war.”
Russia's UN Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya Accuses West of Involvement in Ukrainian Conflict “up to his ears” and said that the issue of arming Kyiv would be discussed at the Security Council on Friday.
On August 27, the Pentagon supported that its policy on using long-range weapons had not changed. That was before Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and Volodymyr Zelenskyy's chief of staff Andriy Yermak visited Washington with a purported list of Russian targets they were seeking permission to strike.
Ukraine has repeatedly launched drones towards Moscow, which is notorious collapse one on the roof of the Kremlin in May 2023. On Tuesday, another Ukrainian drone hit a residential building in the Moscow region, resulting in the death of one civilian and the injury of three.