Rep. Michael McCaul, the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, believes the Biden administration will lift restrictions on Ukraine’s use of US missiles to allow long-range strikes inside Russian territory, which would mark another significant escalation of the proxy war.
McCaul made the comments ahead of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s next visit to Ukraine, which will take place on Wednesday. Blinken will be joined by his British counterpart, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
Ukraine has been using US missiles and other weapons in its invasion of Kursk and has been pushing for the use of longer-range capabilities, including Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), which have a range of about 190 miles and can be fired by the HIMARS rocket systems.
“[Blinken’s] as supportive as I am, and he just said, ‘I have some good news. I’m going to Ukraine with my counterpart from the UK to talk about ATACMS. And what I’ve seen and what I’ve been briefed on, it looks like that’s the message they’re going to give them, that they can use them cross-border,” McCaul said, according to POLITICO.
McCaul joined a group of other senior House Republicans in sending a letter to President Biden on Monday urging US support for long-range strikes. “It is far past time the administration reverses course and lifts the remaining restrictions on Ukraine’s use of US-provided weapons against legitimate military targets in Russia,” the letter reads.
In an interview with Sky News on Tuesday, Blinken said that the administration was not ruling out supporting the long-range strikes. “We never rule out, but when we rule in, we want to make sure it’s done in such a way that it can advance what the Ukrainians are trying to achieve,” Blinken said.
Moscow has warned strongly against the US allowing Ukraine to use NATO weapons to hit targets deep inside Russia and has said it’s working on changing its nuclear doctrine in response to Western escalations in Ukraine.
