Republicans urge Biden to lift restrictions on Ukraine’s use of U.S.-provided long-range weapons

This is stated in a press release on the website of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, Ukrinform saw.

"We write to urge you to lift the remaining restrictions on Ukraine’s use of U.S.-provided long-range systems, specifically Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), against legitimate military targets deeper inside of Russia," the Republicans' letter to Biden reads.

They noted that the US-imposed restrictions have hampered Ukraine’s ability to defeat Russia’s war of aggression and have given the Kremlin’s forces a sanctuary from which it can attack Ukraine with impunity.

Biden's decision earlier this year to partially lift the total ban on Ukrainian strikes on targets in Russia with U.S.-provided weapons "was welcome but came too late," the letter says. The Republicans, referring to the reports, noted that this change in policy helped blunt Russia’s offensive in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region.

"However, if the change had come sooner, Russia’s offensive against Kharkiv might have been prevented altogether, which in turn would have allowed Ukraine to focus on critical parts of the frontline in the Donetsk region," the U.S. lawmakers believe.

The Republicans reminded that neither Ukraine’s use of U.S.-provided weapons in Russia nor its military incursion into Russia’s Kursk region had triggered a Russian escalatory response.

"This conflict will end only when tougher sanctions and Ukraine’s battlefield successes convince Vladimir Putin that he has nothing left to gain through war and must come to the negotiating table," the Republicans stress.

In addition, the Republicans expressed disappointment at reports that Biden administration is preventing the United Kingdom and France from permitting Ukraine to use their Storm Shadow and SCALP long-range missiles against legitimate targets in Russian territory.

"As long as it is conducting its brutal, full-scale war of aggression, Russia must not be given a sanctuary from which it can execute its war crimes against Ukraine with impunity," the Representatives added.

As Ukrinform reported, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky is convinced that long-range weapons could change the course of the war in Ukraine.