Speaker Johnson says Ukrainians should be allowed to fight war as 'they see fit'

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared to endorse enabling Ukraine to strike targets in Russian territory with U.S.-supplied weapons on May 22.

Responding to a question from Voice of America about the current American policy that restricts the usage, Johnson said the U.S. should "allow Ukraine to prosecute the war in the way they see fit."

"(Ukraine needs) to be able to fight back. And I think us trying to micromanage the effort there is not a good policy for us," he added.

Johnson's comments came two days after a bipartisan group of congressmen urged the Pentagon to change the restriction, saying that it has prevented Ukrainians from being able to "defend themselves."

The sentiment was recently echoed by Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, who said that the U.S. restriction on using long-range ATACMS missiles inside Russia was a "mistake."

U.S. officials have repeatedly said that they do not support or encourage Kyiv's strikes with American weapons deep inside Russia, while Ukrainian officials are reportedly trying to convince Washington to lift this ban.

Ukraine recently said that Washington's ban meant Ukraine was unable to attack Russian forces as they were building up before crossing the border into Kharkiv Oblast in the renewed Russian offensive that began earlier in May.

Zelensky: ‘Our partners fear that Russia will lose this war’

President Volodymyr Zelensky believes that Ukraine’s partners “are afraid of Russia losing the war” and would like Kyiv “to win in such a way that Russia does not lose,” Zelensky said in a meeting with journalists attended by the Kyiv Independent.

The Kyiv IndependentDinara Khalilova