KYIV, Sept 11: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British foreign minister David Lammy arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday for a series of meetings with senior Ukrainian government officials at a critical juncture in the war against Russia.
Blinken has said he wants to hear directly from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and others what Kyiv's goals in the war are and what Washington can do to help it achieve them.
Zelenskiy is likely to renew appeals to his allies to allow Ukraine to fire Western missiles including long-range U.S. ATACMS and British Storm Shadows deep into Russian territory to limit Moscow's ability to launch attacks.
Blinken and Lammy are expected to push Ukraine for more information on its strategic aims as they consider whether to give the go-ahead, according to Western sources.
There is nervousness in Washington and some European capitals that doing so would provoke Russia towards a direct conflict with the West, while officials also recognise that Ukraine needs more help if it is to swing the war in its favour.
Overnight, U.S. President Joe Biden suggested that there was room for compromise.
Biden said his administration was "working that out now" when asked if the United States would lift restrictions on Ukraine's use of long-range weapons in its war against Russia.
The speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, said that Moscow would consider the United States and its allies to be parties to the war if they allowed Kyiv to use long-range weapons.
Blinken has declined to say whether Washington would give permission, but said multiple factors went into any decision.
"It's not just the system itself that counts. You have to ask: Can the Ukrainians effectively use it, and sometimes that requires significant training, which we've done. Do they have the ability to maintain it?" Blinken said.
BATTLEFIELD PRESSURES
On the battlefield more than 2-1/2 years since the invasion began, Ukrainian forces are being stretched by a better armed and bigger foe, as they try to fend off Russian gains in the east where Moscow is focusing its attacks.
In a bid to seize back some of the initiative and divert Russian forces, Kyiv last month sent troops into Russia's Kursk region in an audacious large-scale cross-border incursion.
After making rapid progress initially, Ukrainian advances have stalled, and on Wednesday a senior Russian commander said his forces had taken back control of about 10 settlements.
The economic damage from the Kursk incursion totals at least $931 million, regional governor Alexei Smirnov said on Wednesday. More than 150,000 people have been evacuated since the start of Ukraine's attack, he added. —REUTERS
