Biden, Starmer expected to discuss Ukraine's battlefield needs on Sept. 13, Blinken says

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sept. 10 that he "fully anticipates" U.S. President Joe Biden and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer will discuss Ukraine's military needs when they meet on Sept. 13, in response to a question about Kyiv's restrictions on long-range strikes inside Russia.

Blinken and Lammy held a joint press conference in London on Sept. 10, during which Blinken was asked about the restrictions Washington and London have given Kyiv regarding long-range strikes on military targets inside Russia with weapons supplied by the U.S. and U.K..

"We have continually adjusted and adapted, based on battlefield conditions, based on what Russia was doing in a given place and by given means, and that's been a throughline in everything we've done," Blinken said.

Blinken and Lammy are expected to visit Kyiv on Sept. 11. One of the purposes of the trip is "to hear directly from the Ukrainian leadership, including President (Volodymyr) Zelensky, about exactly how the Ukrainians see their needs at this moment," Blinken said.

"We'll both be reporting back to the prime minister, to President Biden, and I fully anticipate this is something they'll take up when they meet on Friday," Blinken said.

Blinken emphasized that the U.S. and U.K. are "going to look and listen" to what Kyiv needs, and consider "what the objectives are that our Ukrainian partners have in the weeks and months ahead, and how we can best support them."

"We will take that back, we will both inform our bosses, the prime minister and the president, and again, I fully expect that will be a part of their conversation on Friday."

Kyiv has long argued that restrictions on the use of long-range weapons are stifling its war effort, while Washington claimed that allowing Ukraine to hit deep into Russian territory with its weapons could escalate the conflict.

Ukraine has dismissed these arguments and has ramped up pressure to lift the ban in recent weeks amid the ongoing incursion into Russia's Kursk Oblast. The White House has not budged on its position, despite some U.S. politicians backing Kyiv’s demands.

Restrictions on long-range strikes inside Russia reveal West’s unclear goals, ex-US commander says

“This terrible policy which actually protects Russian airfields better than it protects Ukrainian civilians is a manifestation of the fact that we don’t have a clearly defined objective,” retired U.S. Lieutenant General Ben Hodges said.

The Kyiv IndependentKateryna Denisova