U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson stated on Wednesday that the United States should let Ukraine "prosecute the war in the way they see fit" concerning the use of U.S.-provided weapons in its conflict with Russia.
In recent weeks, Ukraine has increased its appeals to the Biden administration to lift the restriction on using U.S.-supplied weapons to strike targets within Russia.
When asked about this by VOA, Johnson responded, “They [Ukraine] need to be able to fight back. And I think us trying to micromanage the effort there is not a good policy for us.”
Oleksandra Ustinova, a member of the Ukrainian parliament who recently visited Washington, highlighted that Russia is exploiting U.S. restrictions on the use of American weapons by Ukraine.
“Realizing that we do not have the right to use, for instance, HIMARS [rocket launchers] on the territory of Russia, the Russians display all their equipment along the border and use it to destroy the Kharkiv region,” Ustinova told VOA. “And we simply cannot get to them because there’s a ban on the usage of American weapons on the territory of Russia.”
Last week, Ustinova and some fellow parliament members met with congressional lawmakers to advocate for a policy change.
On Monday, a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, requesting that Ukraine be allowed to use American weapons on strategic targets in Russian territory.
“It is essential the Biden Administration allows Ukraine’s military leaders an ability to conduct a full spectrum of operations necessary to respond to Russia’s unprovoked attack on their sovereign land,” the letter stated.
Following the 22nd Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting on Monday, Austin indicated no change in policy, emphasizing that the United States expects Ukrainians to use the provided weapons within Ukrainian territory.
“In my view, their focus ought to be on the close fight and making sure that they're servicing those targets that will enable success in the close fight,” Austin said.
However, he noted that “The aerial dynamic is a little bit different,” responding to a question about whether Ukraine can use American air defenses to hit bombers that drop glide bombs on the Kharkiv region from Russian territory.
VOA sought clarification from Pentagon press secretary Pat Ryder.
“We are focused on providing Ukraine with capabilities that it needs to defend itself within Ukrainian sovereign territory,” he said. “I'm not going to get into picking apart a bunch of different scenarios. Again, the strategic intent here is enabling Ukraine to defend itself and defend its sovereign territory.”
Former Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst, now a senior director of the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center, said the restrictions hinder Ukrainian forces' ability to defend Kharkiv, currently under threat from a renewed Russian offensive.
“If Ukraine could strike at the Russian troops just across the border in Russia that are about to move into Ukraine, Russia would have much greater logistical problems launching this current offensive,” Herbst told VOA. “And if we allow Ukraine to shoot at the Russian jets that are in Russian airspace and are launching the glide bombs, fewer people in Kharkiv would be dying.”
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