While discussions over whether or not Ukrainian forces should be permitted to utilise weaponry provided by the West to launch attacks deeper into Russia go on, the Biden administration said it is getting ready to send a sizable aid package to Ukraine in the upcoming weeks.
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stated on Saturday that President Biden will meet with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, his counterpart from Ukraine, this month, and that Washington is preparing a “substantial” round of further help for Kyiv.
“I do think we need a comprehensive strategy for success in this war, and that is what President Zelenskyy says he is bringing,” Sullivan said.
Notably, Sullivan delivered his remarks via videolink at the Yalta European Strategy conference in Kyiv, Al Jazeera reported.
“So we are very much looking forward to sitting down and talking that through, and President Biden is eager for that conversation,” he said.
Over 25 months have passed since Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In the last few weeks, Ukrainian forces have faced difficulties as Russia has advanced towards Pokrovsk, a vital transit centre in eastern Ukraine.
Sullivan said that the recent events in the region are of “unique concern.”
In addition, the White House advisor stated that Biden is attempting to place Ukraine in the “best possible position to prevail” in his remaining months in office. Biden is not running for reelection, and his tenure expires in January, Al Jazeera reported.
“President Zelenskyy has said that ultimately this war has to end through negotiations, and we need them to be strong in those negotiations,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the West would be directly involved in conflict if it permitted Ukraine to strike Russian territory using Western long-range weapons and said that it will change the very “essence and nature” of the conflict.
Ukrainian President Zelelnskyy has been pressing the Biden administration and other Western governments to authorise long-range missile strikes in Russia and pressurise Moscow to end the conflict.
On being asked about statements in the US and UK that Ukraine will be allowed to conduct strikes in Russia with long-range weapons, Putin said, “What we are seeing is an attempt to substitute notions. Because this is not a question of whether the Kiev regime is allowed or not allowed to strike targets on Russian territory. It is already carrying out strikes using unmanned aerial vehicles and other means.”
“But using Western-made long-range precision weapons is a completely different story. The fact is that–I have mentioned this, and any expert, both in our country and in the West, will confirm this–the Ukrainian army is not capable of using cutting-edge high-precision long-range systems supplied by the West. They cannot do that,” he added.
In response to a media query, Putin warned that the West will have direct involvement in the conflict if they allow Ukraine to use long-range missiles. He asserted that Russia will make ‘appropriate decisions’ in response to the threats posed to it.
Putin said, “If this decision is made, it will mean nothing short of direct involvement–it will mean that NATO countries, the United States, and European countries are parties to the war in Ukraine. This will mean their direct involvement in the conflict, and it will clearly change the very essence, the very nature of the conflict dramatically.”