The News
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his UK counterpart David Lammy arrived in Kyiv for a joint visit Wednesday.
The pair are scheduled to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who for months has been asking for more leeway on using Western weapons to strike deeper inside Russia — something the US and other allies have sought to avoid for fear of a potential nuclear escalation.
Ahead of the meeting, Zelenskyy said victory in the war depended on support from the US and “other partners.” Blinken later pledged $717 million in new economic and humanitarian aid.
The visit comes after the US confirmed Iran had provided missiles to Russia for use in Ukraine. In response, Britain, France, Germany, and the US announced sanctions on Tehran. The Biden administration has also accused Beijing of providing Moscow with “very substantial” military support — perhaps the most direct criticism yet of China’s implicit support for Russia.
SIGNALS
Concerns remain about Ukraine’s use of Western weapons to strike Russia
US President Joe Biden is weighing Ukraine’s plea to use long-range Western arms to strike deep inside Russia, but US intelligence and defense officials have cautioned against it due to the risk of escalation with Moscow, the Financial Times reported. A Russian lawmaker has already warned that the country “will be forced to respond using more powerful and destructive weapons.” And the military benefits that Ukraine might get from striking Russian territory are unlikely to be “game-changing,” a defense expert argued in Foreign Affairs, because the strikes would need to be combined with tight ground maneuvers, the likes that Kyiv’s forces “have been unable to master so far.”
European diplomats believe Ukraine needs a more ‘realistic plan’
Ukraine’s original goal to drive out Russia from the country entirely may need to be reevaluated, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing European diplomatic sources. Russia has been making progressive gains in Ukrainian territory, and a point of tension between Kyiv and its Western allies has been the discrepancy between the situation on the ground and Ukraine’s stated goal of regaining all territorial control. Sources also told the Journal that choosing a more pragmatic approach would make it easier for Western diplomats to continue advocating and securing aid for Kyiv.
Iran’s arms supply to Russia marks ‘political reversal’ for its new president
Iran’s decision to supply arms to Russia appears to be a “mysterious” change in policy from the country’s new reformist president who vowed to improve relations with the West, The Guardian’s diplomatic editor argued. But it could simply be a case of President Masoud Pezeshkian being distracted by domestic crises, or being excluded from foreign policy decisions. “The true foreign policy power brokers in Iran are the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,” the diplomatic editor wrote.