US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken wrapped up a European tour in Poland on Thursday, where he heard more calls for a change in Washington's policy limiting Ukraine's use of Western-supplied weapons for protracted strikes inside Russia.
Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said Ukraine should be allowed to use Western weapons against Russia in self-defense because Moscow "commits war crimes by attacking civilian targets," Radio Free Europe reported in English.
"The missiles that hit those civilian targets are fired from bomber planes from the territory of Russia. Those bombers take off from airports on the territory of Russia," said Sikorski. "A victim of aggression has the right to defend himself".
In Warsaw, Blinken met with Sikorski, Polish President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Donald Tusk, having previously been to Kiev with British Foreign Minister David Lammy, where they promised to present Ukraine's demands to their leaders.
US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will meet in the US on Friday amid signs that both Washington and London are increasingly receptive to changing policies to limit the use of long-range weapons.
"As what Russia does has changed, as the battlefield has changed, we have adapted," Blinken told a news conference in Warsaw, repeating a statement he made in the Ukrainian capital.
He said one of the goals of his visit to Kyiv on Wednesday was to hear from Ukrainian partners what they believe they need now to resolve the situation on the current battlefield.
"I can tell you that as we go forward, we're going to do exactly what we've been doing in the past, which is we're going to adjust as needed ... to defend (Ukraine) against Russian aggression," Blinken said.
In May, Biden changed policy and allowed Ukraine to fire US-supplied missiles across the border into Russia in self-defense, but kept a limit on the distance at which they could be fired.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has repeatedly expressed the request that this restriction be lifted.
One of Kiev's key demands is to use the U.S. military's ATACMS tactical missile systems, but the Pentagon has said they will not be the answer to the main threat Ukraine faces from cruise bombs, which are fired from more than 300 kilometers away, which is out of range. of ATACMS. Biden and Starmer will discuss the issue when they meet in Washington, Blinken said, fueling speculation that an announcement on the policy change could come at the meeting.
Democratic Senator Chris Coons told MSNBC on Thursday that the announcement is more likely to come when Zelenskiy visits the United States later this month for the UN General Assembly.
Britain's Guardian newspaper reported on Thursday that London has already given Ukraine the green light to use Storm Shadow missiles for long-range strikes deep into Russian territory. The Guardian quoted unidentified government sources as saying the decision was made behind closed doors. British officials have not confirmed the report.
Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a warning about the policy shift, saying on Thursday that if the West allowed Kiev to use longer-range weapons to target Russian targets, it would mean NATO would be "at war" with Russia.
"It would significantly change the very nature of the conflict," Putin told a state television reporter. "This would mean that NATO countries, the USA, European countries are at war with Russia," he added.
"If this is the case, then, taking into account the changing nature of the conflict, we will make appropriate decisions based on the threats we will face," Putin said.
Putin stated that the Ukrainian army can only carry out such strikes when using data from NATO satellites and that only NATO military personnel "can carry out flights for these missile systems".
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