KIEV (Askume) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday for a series of meetings with senior Ukrainian government officials at a crucial moment in the war with Russia.
Blinken said he wanted to hear directly from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and others about what Kiev’s goals are in the war and what Washington can do to help it achieve those goals.
Zelensky will again urge his allies to allow Ukraine to launch Western missiles, including US long-range missiles and British Storm Shadow missiles, into Russian territory to limit Moscow’s strike capabilities.
According to Western sources, Blinken and Lamy will seek more details from Ukraine about its strategic objectives as they consider whether to approve the plan.
Washington and some European countries worry that doing so would put Russia in direct conflict with the West, and officials also believe Ukraine needs more help if it wants to turn the tide of the war.
Overnight, US President Joe Biden said there was room for compromise.
When Biden was asked whether the United States would lift sanctions on Ukraine over the use of long-range weapons in a war with Russia, he said his administration was “working on it.”
Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the lower house of the Russian parliament, said Moscow would consider the United States and its allies as war partners if they allowed Kiev to use long-range weapons.
Blinken declined to say whether Washington would give permission, but said any decision would involve a number of factors.
“It’s not just the system that matters,” Blinken said. “You have to ask: Can the Ukrainians use it effectively, and sometimes that requires a lot of training, which we’ve done. Do they have the capability to maintain it? Do they have the capability to keep it up and running?”
Battlefield pressure
Two and a half years after the invasion began, Ukrainian forces face a better-equipped and larger enemy on the battlefield as they try to halt Russia’s offensive in the east, where Moscow’s attacks are concentrated.
In an effort to regain some initiative and distract Russian forces, Kiev sent troops into Russia’s Kursk region last month in a massive cross-border invasion.
After initially making rapid progress, military advances in Ukraine have stalled, a senior Russian commander said on Wednesday as his forcesControl has been regained over about 10 settlements .
Regional governor Alexei Smirnov said on Wednesday that the Kursk attack had caused economic losses of at least $931 million . He said more than 150,000 people had been evacuated since Ukraine launched the offensive.
Blinken’s visit to Kiev comes a day after he said Russia had received ballistic missiles from Iran and could use them in Ukraine within weeks. He warned that cooperation between Moscow and Tehran threatened broader European security.
Both Russia and Iran have denied Blinken’s claims.
Blinken said deepening military cooperation between Iran and Russia posed a threat to all of Europe. He said Washington had privately warned Iran that Russia’s supply of ballistic missiles would lead to a “dramatic escalation.”
The United States imposed new sanctions on Iran on Tuesday over the alleged transfer.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, starting a war that killed thousands of civilians. Millions of Ukrainians were also displaced, leaving many towns and villages in ruins.
Russia has stepped up drone and missile attacks against Ukraine in recent weeks, and Ukraine has sent hundreds of long-range attack drones into Russian territory.
Zelensky will travel to the United States later this month to present a plan to Biden and his two potential successors in November’s presidential election that he hopes will end the war.
