Poland added its voice on Thursday to calls to allow Ukraine to fire Western-supplied missiles deep into Russia as it hosted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken for talks in Warsaw.
Kyiv has been pressing the Biden administration and other Western governments to authorize long-range strikes that it says will help to counter Russia’s relentless aerial attacks on Ukraine.
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Addressing a joint news conference with Blinken, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said: “I’m of the opinion that Ukraine has the right to use Western weapons to prevent [Russian] war crimes,” adding: “The victim of aggression has the right to defend itself.”
“We should continue to deliver advanced air defense systems (to Ukraine) and lift restrictions on the use of long-range weapons,” he continued.
The top U.S. diplomat, meanwhile, said: “I can tell you that as we go forward, we will do exactly what we’ve already done, which is we will adjust, we will adapt as necessary, including with regards to the means that are at Ukraine’s disposal to effectively defend against Russian aggression.”
Blinken, winding up a visit to Europe, said he had held extensive discussions with Ukrainian officials in Kyiv on Wednesday about how they see the war developing and what their needs are, but declined to say whether Washington was ready to approve such strikes.
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“What we learned from our Ukrainian partners will inform discussions that we’ll be having with other allies and other partners in the days and weeks ahead, as we work through and think through the coming months,” Blinken said.
Russia has warned that any decision to allow Ukraine to strike Russia with long-range Western missiles would deepen what it called the direct involvement of the U.S. and Europe in the war and would trigger a response from Moscow.
Putin ‘has failed’ to achieve goals in Ukraine
Blinken also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had failed to achieve his objectives in Ukraine.
He told reporters that Putin’s goal was to “erase Ukraine from the map, to eliminate its existence as an independent, sovereign country, to subsume it into Russia for purposes of recreating a Russian empire.”
“That has failed and cannot succeed.”However, Blinken stressed that it is crucial to continue supporting Ukraine so it can fend off aggression.
Blinken, who earlier this week also visited Britain, met Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Andrzej Duda as well as Sikorski on Thursday.
Blinken praises Polish support for Ukraine
Blinken highlighted Warsaw’s staunch support for Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.He said that more than 80% of all security and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine is flowing through Poland. “And of course, Poland continues to host some 1 million Ukrainian refugees.“This is a remarkable display of generosity and solidarity in a time when it’s most needed,” he added.
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