Blinken Says Ukraine Can ‘Make Decisions for Itself’ to Attack Inside Russia, US Aid Will Continue

Last updated on August 7th, 2024 at 04:29 pm

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that the Ukrainian government can decide on its own whether to launch offensive strikes inside Russia, giving tacit sign-off for Ukrainian forces to conduct such strikes.

Reports have circulated for weeks that the Biden administration has urged Ukrainian forces not to conduct strikes beyond their borders as they attempt to expel Russian forces in Ukraine. In an April 2 visit to France, Blinken said the Biden administration has been doing everything it could to help Ukraine defend against Russian forces but insisted the administration has “neither supported nor enabled strikes by Ukraine outside of its territory.”

During a visit to Ukraine on Wednesday, Blinken changed his tune, stating, “We have not encouraged or enabled strikes outside of Ukraine, but ultimately Ukraine has to make decisions for itself about how it’s going to conduct this war, a war it’s conducting in defense of its freedom, of its sovereignty, of its territorial integrity.”

“And we will continue to back Ukraine with the equipment that it needs to succeed, that it needs to win,” the secretary added.

Ukrainian officials could interpret Blinken’s remarks as a measure of tacit U.S. approval to select and strike targets within Russia, with an assurance that the U.S. would continue to flow weapons and support to Ukraine. Blinken made the comments the same day he announced a new $2 billion U.S. investment in Ukraine’s military industry.

Earlier this month, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron offered similar approval for Ukraine to conduct cross-border strikes to hit targets within Russia.

“In terms of what the Ukrainians do, in our view, it is their decision about how to use these weapons. They’re defending their country. They were illegally invaded by Putin and they must take those steps,” Cameron said in a May 3 comment to the press. “We don’t discuss any caveats that we put on those things but let’s be absolutely clear Russia has launched an attack into Ukraine and Ukraine absolutely has the right to strike back at Russia.”

“Including inside Russia?” a journalist asked in an immediate follow-up.

“Well it’s–that’s a decision for Ukraine and Ukraine has that right,” Cameron replied.

Blinken made a surprise visit to Ukraine this week, after Russian forces launched a renewed offensive in Ukraine’s north, around Kharkiv. Reports indicate Russian forces have made some incremental gains and routed Ukrainian defenses on the Kharkiv front. Amid this ongoing Russian push in the Kharkiv region, Russian officials have claimed Ukrainian forces have responded with cross-border artillery strikes in the Russian border city of Belgorod, collapsing residential buildings and inflicting civilian casualties. The Russian Belgorod oblast and the Ukrainian Kharkiv oblast sit on opposite sides of the Ukrainian-Russian border.

During his Wednesday comments, Blinken indicated the Biden administration would not push Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his government to negotiate for a peace settlement in the conflict.

“In terms of negotiations, these, again, are decisions for Ukraine to make, not the United States or not any other country. So if — I imagine that if Putin showed any interest in seriously engaging in negotiations, I’m sure Ukrainians would respond to that. But what Putin is demonstrating every single day is exactly the opposite,” Blinken said. “But fundamentally, these are questions for Ukraine to answer. We’ve been very clear: We support Ukraine, we support Ukraine in its decisions, and there will not be, never will be anything about Ukraine without Ukraine.”