US pushes back against Ukraine pleas to lift weapon restrictions

Striking targets far inside Russia with U.S. and other Western weapons would not make a big difference for Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s aggression, American Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on Friday.

“There’s no one capability that will, in and of itself, be decisive in this campaign,” Austin told reporters at Germany’s Ramstein Air Base, where he met with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and fellow allies in the so-called Ukraine Defense Contact Group.

“We had this discussion about tanks; we had this discussion about other capabilities,” Austin said.

“There are a lot of targets in Russia — a big country, obviously,” Austin added. “And there’s a lot of capability that Ukraine has in terms of UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] and other things to address those targets.”

His words represent a diplomatic pushback to pleas from Zelenskyy and his new Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha to allow strikes deeper inside Russia with Western weapons, as the Kremlin keeps terrorizing civilian targets in Ukraine from bases in Russia. Zelenskyy argues that Kyiv’s gains in Russia’s Kursk region have turned the tables on Russia.

During an earlier speech in Ramstein, Austin said the U.S. is “laser-focused on Ukraine’s priority needs.” Addressing Zelenskyy directly, he assured him “we hear your urgency. And we share it.”

Ahead of the Ramstein meeting, Washington announced it would provide another $250 million in security assistance to Kyiv, while U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey pledged £162 million for 650 new multi-role missiles. A senior U.K. government official, granted anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said Britain’s aim was to start supplying they missiles by year end.

Back at home Zelenskyy faces an outcry from the opposition who claim his recent reshuffle of government ministers is more of a power grab.