WASHINGTON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for months has been pleading with the United States and Britain for the right to use their long-ran
WASHINGTON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for months has been pleading with the United States and Britain for the right to use their long-range missiles to strike deep inside Russia.
He finally appears to be close to achieving his goal.
There has been noticeable momentum over the past few weeks to loosen those restrictions ahead of a key meeting between President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Washington on September 13. The two leaders were expected to discuss support for Ukraine, among other topics, but not formally announce any change in policy.
But the meeting itself and other bits of information reported during the week gave the appearance that something was afoot. Asked on September 11 whether he would loosen the restrictions, Biden said, “We are working that out right now”, signaling a possible shift in his position. The comment came as many members of Congress, including those from his own Democratic Party, called on the president to ease his policy.
“I expect that we will see an announcement shortly about relaxing the restrictions. There has been tremendous buildup, and it would be very hard to backtrack”, Mark Cancian, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and Institutional Studies, told RFE/RL.
