Ukraine’s hopes rise on permission for long-range strikes against Russia

KYIV — Ukraine wants two things from its partners: to allow it to strike Russia with long-range Western weapons, and for allies to shoot down Russian drones and missiles nearing NATO airspace.

Until now, the answer from Washington and other key allies has been an unambiguous “no.”

But there is hope in Kyiv that the American position may be starting to budge. United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday along with his United Kingdom counterpart David Lammy — they are due to hold a news briefing in the evening.

The two will first meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, newly appointed Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and other top Ukrainian officials. They are planning to discuss the war situation — where Ukrainian forces are desperately stretched against continuing Russian attacks, and Ukraine’s cities are being regularly hit with Russian bombs, missiles and drones — as well as what Washington can do to help Kyiv.

“We’re going to look and to listen, and to make sure that we have our own best assessment of what’s needed — what the objectives are that our Ukrainian partners have in the weeks and months ahead, and how we can best support them,” Blinken said in London before heading to Kyiv.

Iran’s alleged provision of ballistic missiles to Russia is forcing the U.S. to at least think about reconsidering its long-standing ban on Ukraine using donated long-range missiles to strike targets in Russia.

U.S. President Joe Biden is “not ruling out” such a shift, Blinken told Sky News before arriving in the Ukrainian capital.

The pressure on Biden is growing. The president is being badgered with letters from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers calling on him to loosen the rules.

That’s causing hopes to rise in Kyiv.

“We have been emphasizing that the strategy of Ukrainian victory is not to be afraid of any escalations, to provide Ukraine with the means necessary for victory over Russia,” Heorhii Tykhyi, the Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesperson, said at an evening press briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday. “And here we need to deal with this situation comprehensively and set the goal of victory for Ukraine. Then the policy will be appropriate,” he continued.

While Western allies worry about crossing Russian red lines, Kyiv is starting to regularly attack Russia with its own long-range weapons. On Wednesday, the Arctic city of Murmansk, 2,000 kilometers to the north of Ukraine, shut two of its airports after reporting attacks by Ukrainian drones. A day earlier, Ukraine attacked Moscow and other targets inside Russia.

Rather than stalling and worrying, Kyiv’s allies should look at Moscow’s muted reaction to Ukraine’s incursion in Russia’s Kursk region to determine that the escalation risk from hitting Russian targets is low, Tykhyi said.

“Of course, we understand that partners have their concerns. But our operation in the Kursk region showed that all the so-called Russian red lines are imaginary, as well as fears to cross them,” he said.

Ukraine also wants frontline allies like Poland and Romania to shoot down Russian missiles and drones heading toward the borders of the European Union while they are still over Ukraine. So far, those countries have simply observed as Russian weapons overfly their territory and then often turn to Ukraine to hit targets there. Those countries are also worried about escalation.

“It is nothing else but a humanitarian mission of saving lives. It just needs collective courage for the countries who can do it, to be able to,” Tykhyi said.

However, Ukraine’s hopes have been raised and dashed many times before, so there is caution about Blinken this evening possibly announcing a radical departure in previous U.S. policy on the use of donated weapons.

“In diplomacy, the golden principle is that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. Therefore, we do not want to rush ahead and announce,” Tykhyi said.