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Senator Ben Cardin, the Democratic chair of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, noted recent Russian attacks that killed
civilians and destroyed infrastructure, calling for quick
action.
"It’s time to allow Ukraine to be able to defend itself against
these air attacks in a more effective way, and the United States
needs to be the leader in that regard," Cardin said at a
committee hearing.
Despite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's pleas, the
White House has been reluctant to allow U.S.-supplied weapons to
be used to strike targets deep inside Russia for fear this could
escalate the conflict.
Republicans have called for such restrictions to be eased since
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February
2022, but influential congressional Democrats more recently also
have been urging the policy shift.
Lawmakers renewed their calls as U.S. Secretary of State Antony
Blinken and British Foreign Minister David Lammy met top
officials in Kyiv. Blinken told a news conference he had
discussed long-range weapons and would brief Biden on what he
had heard, but did not announce restrictions had been lifted.
In a letter to Biden national security adviser Jake Sullivan,
Representative Bill Keating, the top Democrat on the House
Europe subcommittee, on Tuesday urged the administration to
allow the use of American-made weapons against military targets
in Russian territory.
A group of congressional Republicans, including the chairs of
the Armed Services, Foreign Affairs and Intelligence committees,
also released a letter on Tuesday calling for an end to the
restrictions.
Biden said on Tuesday that ending a ban on Ukraine's use of
long-range weapons was being worked out.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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