Kiev also needs more air defense systems and additional training for F-16 pilots, a group of lawmakers said in a letter
A group of US congressmen has appealed to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, asking him to allow Ukraine to attack Russian territory with American weapons and for an overall increase in military assistance to Kiev.
The letter, which was published on Tuesday, followed a meeting between House members and a group of Ukrainian parliamentarians who visited Washington last week.
The key request by the authors of the document was for Austin to authorize “the use of US-provided weapons to strike strategic targets within Russian territory under certain circumstances.”
Last week, US Defense Department spokeswoman Sabrina Singh reiterated the Pentagon’s stance that American weapons can only be deployed to “take back Ukrainian sovereign territory,” not to target Russia.
The lawmakers, including the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Mike Turner, the committee’s ranking member, Jim Himes, and former president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Gerry Connolly, argued that the “Ukrainians have been unable to defend themselves due to the [President Joe Biden] Administration’s current policy.”
It is “essential” that Kiev’s commanders are provided with the ability “to conduct a full spectrum of operations” required to respond to Moscow, the letter read.
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