High-ranking Ukrainian officials to present Biden administration with list of targets in Russia to strike
Ukraine's Defenсe Minister Rustem Umierov will meet with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday, 30 August. Andrii Yermak, Head of the President's Office, will also meet a member of the US government, but it is still unclear whom. During their in-person meetings, the two high-ranking Ukrainian officials will present the Biden administration with a list of targets in Russia and attempt to push the US to lift restrictions on the use of American-provided weapons against Russia.
Source: a Ukrainian MP informed CNN about this on conditions of anonymity
Details: Yermak met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan during previous visits to Washington.
Yermak and Umierov will meet with US officials "to try to concretely convince the White House to lift restrictions on long-range weapons strikes on Russian territory," said the Ukrainian MP.
"They will provide a list of priority targets, without which it will be difficult to change the course of the war in Ukraine’s favour," he added.
Background:
- The first report that Ukraine plans to hand over a list of targets deep in Russian territory to Joe Biden’s administration in order to convince the US to lift the ban on using American weapons to strike Russian territory was revealed by Politico.
- At a briefing on 26 August, John Kirby, White House National Security Communications Advisor, stated that there had been no changes in US policy regarding the deployment of American armaments by Ukraine.
- However, some members of the Ukrainian Parliament and officials see signs that Washington is considering lifting the restrictions shortly.
- Earlier, WP reported that amid the operation in Kursk Oblast, Ukraine has intensified its requests to Biden’s administration to let it use ATACMS to strike Russian airbases on Russian territory.
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