US House Republicans Urge Biden to Allow Ukraine to Use American Long-Range Weapons Against Military Targets in Russia
A group of key US House Republicans sent a letter to US President Joe Biden calling on him to lift restrictions on Ukraine's use of long-range weapons provided by Washington to strike deep into Russia.
This is stated in a press release on the website of the US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, Ukrinform reports.
‘We are writing to urge you to lift restrictions on Ukraine's use of long-range systems provided by the United States, including Army Tactical Air Defence Systems (ATACMS), against legitimate military targets deep inside Russia,’ the Republicans wrote in a letter to Biden.
They noted that the US-imposed restrictions impede Ukraine's ability to win an aggressive war with Russia and give Russian troops room to attack Ukraine with impunity.
Biden's decision earlier this year to lift a complete ban on Ukrainian strikes on targets in Russia with US weapons ‘was positive, but belated,’ the letter says. Citing reports, the Republicans noted that the change helped halt the Russian army's offensive in the Kharkiv region.
‘However, if this change had occurred earlier, the Russian offensive on Kharkiv could have been prevented altogether, which in turn would have allowed Ukraine to focus on critical frontline areas in the Donetsk region,’ the House believes.
The Republicans reminded that neither Ukraine's use of US weapons to strike Russian territory nor the Ukrainian operation in the Kursk region caused an escalation in response from Moscow.
In addition, the Republicans expressed disappointment at reports that the Biden administration is preventing the United Kingdom and France from allowing Ukraine to use their long-range Storm Shadow and SCALP missiles against legitimate targets in Russia.
‘As long as Russia is waging its brutal, full-scale war of aggression, it should not be granted a safe haven from which to commit its war crimes against Ukraine with impunity,’ the House added.
Ukraine has long been calling on its allies at all diplomatic levels to allow Ukraine to use long-range weapons to strike deep into Russia. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy is convinced that long-range weapons could change the course of the war in Ukraine. In late summer, Ukraine handed over to the US a list of priority military targets in Russia that it plans to strike in accordance with international laws of war.