Senior Republicans urge Biden to lift restrictions on Ukraine hitting targets deep inside Russia

(CNN) — A group of key House Republicans have written to President Joe Biden urging him to lift the restrictions on the use of US-provided long-range weapons systems and allow Kyiv to strike targets deep inside Russia.

The letter, dated Monday, echoes repeated appeals from the Ukrainian government itself, including President Volodymyr Zelensky. It was sent ahead of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to the Ukrainian capital Wednesday and as the Biden administration continues to assess Kyiv’s request to carry out strikes deeper inside Russia.

US officials expect Blinken, who is traveling to Ukraine with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, to gather information during his trip to Kyiv on how these longer-range strikes would factor into Ukraine’s broader battlefield strategy. The UK is also considering whether to allow Ukraine to strike deeper inside Russia with its own long-range system, the Storm Shadow.

Blinken said he expects the topic to be discussed when Biden and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer meet Friday in Washington.

“We’ll be listening intently to our Ukrainian partners. We’ll both be reporting back to the prime minister, to President Biden in the coming days. And I fully anticipate this is something they’ll take up when they meet on Friday,” the top US diplomat said in London Tuesday.

Asked later Tuesday if the US will lift the restrictions, Biden answered, “we’re working that out right now.”

Two US officials later told CNN that the Biden administration is not anticipating any policy changes when it comes to lifting restrictions.

“No change to policy,” one senior administration official said, adding that there is currently no openness to lifting restrictions. Another US official echoed this, saying despite the fact that American and Ukrainian officials discuss this issue with regularity, the administration is not anticipating policy changes on ATACMS.

The Republican lawmakers argue that the 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.”

“It is far past time the administration reverses course and lifts the remaining restrictions on Ukraine’s use of U.S.-provided weapons against legitimate military targets in Russia,” the lawmakers wrote.

The letter was signed by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Michael Turner, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, House Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Ken Calvert, House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee Chairman Thomas Kean, and Helsinki Commissioner Richard Hudson. It hits out at decisions from the “Biden-Harris administration,” but stands in contrast to sentiments from the Republican presidential and vice presidential contenders, who have suggested they could stem assistance to Ukraine if elected. Former President Donald Trump has also repeatedly vowed to bring an end to the war.

Last week, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin pushed back on the notion that lifting the restrictions and hitting deeper into Russia is a silver bullet, saying that “there’s no one capability that will, in and of itself, be decisive in this campaign.”

“There are a lot of targets in Russia — a big country, obviously,” Austin said at a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Germany on Friday. “And there’s a lot of capability that Ukraine has in terms of (unmanned aerial vehicles) and other things to address those targets.”

A US official said “several hundred” ATACMS have been transferred to Ukraine “and Ukraine has used most of them.”

As with previous steps the US has taken to bolster Ukraine on the battlefield, there are concerns within the administration that allowing Ukraine to strike further inside Russia could escalate the conflict and cause Russia to further accuse the US of being a part of the war.

However, the Republican lawmakers argued that “the administration’s concerns about escalation have been consistently invalidated since Day One of the war.”

“Neither Ukraine’s use of U.S.-provided weapons in Russia nor its military incursion into Russia’s Kursk region – the first foreign occupation of Russian territory since World War II – have triggered a Russian escalatory response,” they wrote.

Debate ongoing with administration

The debate on Ukraine’s request is ongoing and some US officials expect the administration to green-light the Ukrainian ask, while others said it is possible the ultimate answer will be no.

A Ukrainian lawmaker told CNN that they hope that the transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia will be enough to tip the scales and shift the administration’s position. The US official noted that they had been tracking the expected delivery of the missiles for months and the US has “been accounting for it.”

Still, in London on Tuesday, Blinken indicated a willingness to change the US posture on the topic, saying that the US has routinely showed a willingness to adapt and adjust support for Ukraine based on “battlefield conditions.”

One objective of the trip will be learning from Zelensky “exactly how the Ukrainians see their needs in this moment, toward what objectives, and what we can do to support those needs,” Blinken said.

US intelligence assesses that more than 90% of Russian aircraft launching glide bombs and firing missiles against Ukraine are based at airfields that are at least 300 km from Ukrainian-controlled territory, putting them outside of ATACMS range, the US official explained.

“We expect this number to continue to increase. For example, Russia recently relocated its glide bomb missions from two airfields, which were located closer to the front, father east to airfields that are outside of range of ATCMS,” the official said.

In their letter, the Republican lawmakers argued that “there remain numerous other legitimate military targets in range in Russian territory.”

“The Institute for the Study of War assesses that, excluding airfields, there are over 200 legitimate military targets within range of U.S.-provided weapons to include military bases, logistics nodes, fuel depots, ammunition warehouses, and command and control systems,” they wrote.

Last month, senior Ukrainians presented US officials with targets they would like to strike in Russia during a visit to Washington. US officials reviewed their lists but did not ultimately give the Ukrainians a decision.

The US also has a limited stock of ATACMS available to provide Ukraine without impacting US military readiness, and using the weapons to strike far inside Russia would deplete Ukraine’s stockpile of ATACMS that could be used for other parts of their military campaign such as inside Crimea.

But the Ukrainians say there are weapons productions facilities that would be within reach of the ATACMS inside Russia that are worthy military targets, a source familiar with the Ukrainians position told CNN.

These discussions come as Ukraine has shown a willingness to possibly engage with Russia to begin talks to end the war. While US officials do not expect any talks to begin in the coming months, some are wary of Ukrainians going to the table with Russia before they are in the best possible position to begin those talks.

“It’s going to be up to President Zelensky if and when he wants to negotiate an end to this war, certainly a negotiated end is the most likely outcome here, but when that happens, and under what conditions and circumstances that’s going to be up to President Zelensky,” John Kirby, spokesman for the US National Security Council, said on Tuesday. “The point that Secretary Blinken will make is that that we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that if and when he’s ready to make that decision, that he does so from the best possible position. And so that’s what, that’s what this trip is really about. It’s not arm twisting. It’s about learning.”

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNN’s MJ Lee contributed to this report.

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