President Biden is edging toward what may prove to be one of his most consequential decisions in the Ukraine war: whether to reverse his ban on shooting American weapons into Russian territory.
He has long resisted authorizing Ukraine to use U.S. weapons inside Russia because of concern it could escalate into a direct American confrontation with a nuclear-armed adversary.
Now, after months of complaints about the restrictions from Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, the White House has begun a formal — and apparently rapid — reassessment of whether to take the risk. Approving further uses of U.S. weapons would give Kyiv a way to conduct counterattacks on artillery and missile sites that now enjoy something of a safe haven just inside Russia.
So far Mr. Biden himself has remained silent, as he often does when faced with a major policy decision that is the subject of complex debate within the White House. His national security aides are running what one called "a very brisk process" to make a formal recommendation to the president, knowing that momentum in the war has been shifting to Russia.
Some of his advisers — refusing to speak on the record about a debate inside the White House — say they believe a reversal of his position is inevitable. But if the president does change his view, it will most likely come with severe restrictions on how the Ukrainians could use American-provided arms, limiting them to military targets, just inside Russia's borders, that are involved in attacks on Ukraine.
Mr. Biden would likely retain the ban on using U.S. weapons to strike deep inside Russian territory, or at critical infrastructure. On that point he has some allied support: Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany has refused to provide Ukraine with the German "Taurus" long-range missile system, for fear it could reach Moscow.
Mr. Biden does not have much time. In two weeks, he begins a month of intensive face-to-face meetings with his key allies, first at the 80th anniversary of D-Day, then at a meeting of the G7 nations and finally at a celebration, in Washington, of the creation of NATO 75 years ago. At all of these appearances, projecting unity will be critical.
But if Mr. Biden reverses course, officials concede he most likely will never announce it: Instead, American artillery shells and missiles will just start landing on Russian military targets.
Mr. Biden's two mandates in the war — don't let Russia win and don't risk starting World War III — have always been in tension with each other. But in the 27 months since Russia's invasion, the need to choose between the possibility of Ukrainian defeat and direct involvement on attacks on the territory of a nuclear superpower have never been as stark.
Biden Weighs Letting Ukraine Strike With U.S. Weapons in Russia - The New York Times
Continued list of signatories here, including former ambassadors @McFaul, Marie Yovanovitch, @ARVershbow, William Taylor, Michael McKinley, @KelleyCurrie, and more. pic.twitter.com/qYoz0chubY
— Razom for Ukraine 🇺🇦 (@razomforukraine) May 29, 2024
