Days after Vladimir Putin’s merciless missile attack on a children’s hospital in Kyiv, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged the US to lift restrictions on the use of weapons to attack military targets in Russia.
Meanwhile in an illustration of how the onslaught has triggered revulsion even among Putin’s own military, one Ukrainian media outlet has claimed a Russian pilot approached Ukrainian intelligence and provided data enabling them to identify 30 commanders of the heavy bomber aviation division.
Speaking in Washington yesterday alongside NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Mr Zelensky said: “If we want to win, if we want to prevail, if we want to save our country and to defend it, we need to lift all the limitations.”
The administration of US President Joe Biden permits Ukraine to fire weapons into Russian territory only for the purpose of hitting back against Russian forces that are attacking or preparing to attack them, concerned that the broader use of American-made weaponry could provoke Russia to widen the war.
Mr Zelensky has been pressing for greater latitude so that US weapons could be used to hit critical military bases and installations deeper in Russian territory.
The calls to drop the restrictions have grown in recent months, in the wake of Russian military gains during months in which political battles in the U.S. delayed vital military support for Ukraine.
Mr Stoltenberg and French President Emmanuel Macron have championed Ukraine’s efforts to win more leeway in how it can use US-provided arms.
In May he said: “If we tell Ukrainians you do not have the right to reach the point from which the missiles are fired, we are in fact telling them that we are delivering weapons to you, but you cannot defend yourself.”
At a one-on-one meeting with Zelensky, Mr Biden touted the aid package as his eighth since taking office, with this latest one consisting of £174million ($225 million) in support, including an additional Patriot missile system to bolster Ukraine’s air defences against a deadly onslaught of Russian airstrikes.
The NATO summit unfolded as concern mounted among Democrats about President Joe Biden’s ability to serve another four years after the President mistakenly introduced Mr Zelensky as Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Some in the room gasped at Biden’s gaffe, which the US president quickly sought to clean up by saying, “President Putin? You’re going to beat President Putin.
“I’m so focused on beating Putin, we got to worry about it.”
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron declined to criticise Biden. Macron said “we can all have a slip of the tongue” and said Biden, with whom he spoke during Wednesday’s dinner, “is very much on top of things.”
And Sir Keir declined at least five times to answer directly about Biden’s gaffe, instead praising him for his leadership and his preparation in putting the event together and securing solid outcomes for Ukraine.
Asked about Mr Zelensky’s appeal for greater freedom in targeting Russian forces, Biden showed no sign of easing the U.S. limits, saying he was following the advice of his defence and intelligence officials.
He explained: “If he had the capacity to strike Moscow, strike the Kremlin, would that make sense? We’re making it on a day-to-day basis … how far they should go in” to Russian territory.
Though Mr Zelensky offered public thanks for the package and a promise by NATO leaders that Ukraine is now on an “irreversible path” to membership in the military alliance, he also sounded an alarm: Ukraine cannot win the war with Russia, now in its third year, unless the U.S. ends limits on the use of its weapons to attack military targets in Russia.
According to insiders from the Main Directorate of Intelligence speaking to Ukrainian Pravda, a pilot from the 22nd heavy bomber aviation division contacted the GUR chatbot, saying he was shocked by the attack on the Okhmatdyt hospital, and had decided to provide the Ukrainian side with documents related to the activities of his unit, as well as private photos of its commanders.