Authorising Ukraine to strike Russia with US-supplied weapons will be very useful, Pentagon chief says
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has said that allowing Ukrainian forces to conduct limited strikes on Russian territory with US-supplied weapons would be "very, very helpful to the Ukrainians going forward".
Source: Austin in an interview with CNN, as reported by European Pravda
Details: Austin's comments come a few days after US President Joe Biden granted Ukraine permission for limited strikes on targets in Russia with US-supplied weapons.
"What we have done is provided Ukraine the ability to counter fire, to fire back at those Russian troops that are firing at them and to be able to take out their artillery batteries as they’re firing at the Ukrainians," the Pentagon chief said.
Asked whether support for Ukraine in the US has waned, Austin said that he believes there is "strong support for Ukraine" among both political parties despite the time it took Congress to pass the security assistance package.
The Pentagon chief further emphasised that Russian ruler Vladimir Putin is unlikely to stop in Ukraine.
"And Ukraine matters … not just for Ukraine’s purposes alone, not for Europe alone — it matters to us and it matters to the entire globe. So, we have to make sure that Putin doesn’t have the ability to trample Ukraine because as the president said there’s a good chance, almost certain, that Putin won’t stop there. He will continue to move forward in other acts of aggression," Austin concluded.
Background:
- Earlier, after granting limited permission for Ukraine to use US weapons to strike Russian territory, Biden expressed opposition to potential strikes deep into Russian territory with US-supplied weaponry.
- The White House has previously explained that the US permission to use US-supplied weapons applies to the border areas of not only Kharkiv Oblast but also Sumy Oblast.
- At the same time, the authorisation does not apply to long-range ATACMS missiles.
- Meanwhile, Kyiv wants to negotiate an extension of the scope of this authorisation.
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