Ukrainian rescuers extinguish a fire in a residential building following a missile attack in Kyiv on February 7, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images)
The United States signaled Thursday that it may allow Ukraine to fire missiles more deeply into Russia to destroy weapons that Moscow has deployed to launch airstrikes throughout Ukraine.
“We'll adapt as necessary, including with regard to the means that are at Ukraine's disposal to effectively defend against the Russian aggression," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a news conference in Warsaw. He said the U.S. and its allies “will always” take Ukraine’s battlefield needs into account.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that Moscow was taking advantage of Kyiv's Western allies' hesitation over allowing Ukraine to strike more deeply into Russian territory.
"The delay in this process leads to Russia moving these military targets deeper into Russia," Zelenskyy said.
The U.S. and its Western allies supporting Ukraine have conditioned its ongoing supply of missiles to Ukraine with the proviso that they are not to be launched deep into Russia, for fear that the more than 30-month Russian war on Ukraine would be widened.
Ukraine has attacked Moscow with drones and shelled targets closer to the Ukraine-Russia border, but Zelenskyy has repeatedly demanded that its Western allies allow Kyiv to hit targets where Russia is storing its missiles used to attack Ukrainian territory.
Russia has stepped up its aerial bombardment on Ukraine in the last five weeks rather than aggressively try to retake territory in Russia’s southwestern Kursk region that Kyiv’s forces captured in a surprise attack that started in early August.
Blinken spoke Thursday alongside Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, a day after he and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy met with Ukrainian officials in Kyiv on the state of the war and what they consider to be their immediate needs.
Blinken and Lammy pledged to bring the Ukrainian requests for wider missile usage to their leaders.
U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are set to meet in Washington on Friday amid signs both Washington and London are growing more receptive to permitting the Ukrainians to use their arms to hit targets farther inside Russia than previously allowed.
NATO member Poland, which shares a border with Ukraine, has also been supportive of the Ukrainians.
Blinken emphatically told reporters he believes Ukraine can win the war.
“In fact, we’re determined to see Ukraine win this war,” Blinken said. “Time and again we’ve seen Ukraine success against the odds.”
The top U.S. diplomat said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “entire purpose was to erase Ukraine from the map, to eliminate it as a sovereign country. He has failed.”
Sikorski said Russia has lost wars throughout history, adding, “Russia should lose this war for the sake of Ukraine … but also for the sake of Russia.”
On the battlefront, the International Committee of the Red Cross said three of its staff members were killed and two others wounded on Thursday after shelling hit the site for a planned front-line aid distribution in the Donetsk region.
The Red Cross said distribution of the humanitarian assistance had not begun, and no residents were affected by the explosion.
ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric said in a statement, “I condemn attacks on Red Cross personnel in the strongest terms. It’s unconscionable that shelling would hit an aid distribution site.”
The ICRC team was preparing to distribute wood and coal briquettes in Viroliubivka village, north of Donetsk city, to vulnerable households to help them prepare for the winter, when the vehicles they were using were hit.
Officials in northeastern Ukraine said Thursday a Russian drone attack injured at least 14 people in the town of Konotop. The attack targeted energy and civilian infrastructure facilities, the officials said.
Russian forces also directed drone attacks at the Kherson region, where officials said Thursday that Ukrainian air defenses shot down four drones.
In all, Ukraine’s military said it shot down 44 of the 64 drones Russia used in attacks across the country.
Russia’s defense ministry said it shot down three Ukrainian drones over the Belgorod region, two drones over Kursk and another drone over Bryansk.
Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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