“When Russia changes its actions”
Blinken questions weapons restrictions for Ukraine
30.05.2024, 08:28
Kiev also wants to use the weapons supplied by its allies for targets in Russia. While French President Macron and NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg supported this, Germany and the USA are strictly against it. Now new statements by US Secretary of State Blinken are causing concern.
In the debate about the use of Western weapons by Ukraine against military targets in Russia, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has indicated flexibility. Since the beginning of the war, the US government has adapted its support for Ukraine to the changing conditions, said Blinken during a visit to the small neighboring country of Moldova. And he is “confident that we will continue to do so.”
At a press conference with Moldovan President Maia Sandu in the capital Chisinau, Blinken was asked by a journalist whether US President Joe Biden could be persuaded to lift the existing restrictions. Blinken replied that the US government had neither enabled nor encouraged attacks with US weapons on targets outside Ukraine. Ukraine must decide for itself how best to defend itself. “We will ensure that it receives the necessary equipment to do so.
Blinken stressed that a hallmark of American support for Ukraine in the more than two years since the war began has always been “to adapt as conditions change, as the battlefield changes, as Russia changes its actions (…). We have adapted and changed as well, and I am confident that we will continue to do so.”
French President Emmanuel Macron had previously made it clear that he wanted to allow Ukraine to attack military positions on Russian territory, including with Western weapons. Most recently, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had also put pressure on the country to lift existing restrictions on this issue.
Adapting to battlefield conditions
The US has so far provided its weapons to Ukraine so that it can liberate its occupied territories, but not for attacks on Russia itself. The US government has not officially changed its position. “There is no change in our policy: we neither encourage nor enable the use of US weapons on Russian soil,” said the National Security Council’s communications director, John Kirby.
He spoke to reporters while Blinken was still in Moldova. At the same time, Kirby also stressed that the US has adapted its support to the changing conditions on the battlefield and the needs of Ukraine in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
The New York Times reported a few days ago that Blinken was lobbying within the government to allow Ukraine to use US weapons against targets within Russian territory. He wanted to persuade President Biden to lift the restrictions, it was said. The State Department would neither deny nor confirm the report at the time.