KIEV: The United States and Britain on Wednesday pledged about $1.5 billion to support Ukraine and vowed to quickly consider demands to ease arms restrictions to strike deeper into Russia.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy have made a rare joint visit to Kiev in a show of solidarity at a time of growing concern.
Russia's alleged acquisition of new Iranian short-range missiles threatens to increase Moscow's firepower, and U.S. elections less than two months away could dramatically change the position of Ukraine's main backer.
Blinken, who rode a nine-hour train to Kiev with Lammy, said the United States would offer $717 million in new economic aid to Ukraine.
About half of that amount will be U.S. support to strengthen Ukraine's electricity infrastructure, which Russia has been straining as winter approaches.
Blinken accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of dusting off “his winter strategy playbook” to “weaponize the cold against the Ukrainian people.”
“Our support will not wane, our unity will not break,” Blinken said at a joint news conference in Kiev.
“Putin will not survive the coalition of countries committed to Ukraine's success, and he certainly will not survive the Ukrainian people.”
Lammy reiterated his two-month-old Labour government's commitment to providing £600 billion ($782 million) in economic assistance to Ukraine.
He said that Britain, which has consistently pushed for easing restrictions on Ukraine's use of weapons, would supply Ukraine with hundreds of new air defense missiles this year.
Russia has advanced towards the key logistics hub of Pokrovsk in eastern Donetsk region, a month after Kiev launched a surprise counteroffensive in Russia's Kursk region.
In recent months, President Volodymyr Zelensky has stepped up calls for the West to supply weapons with more firepower and fewer restrictions.
“It is important to eliminate all restrictions on the use of US and British weapons against legitimate military targets in Russia,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said at a joint conference with his counterparts, who had earlier met with Zelensky.
Blinken said the United States would review the requests “as a matter of urgency” and that they would be discussed on Friday in Washington, when President Joe Biden meets with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Biden, asked in Washington on Tuesday whether he would allow Ukraine to use long-range weapons to strike Russian targets, said: “We are working on that right now.”
Biden, while staunchly supporting Ukraine, has previously made clear that he wants to avoid escalating into a direct conflict between the United States and Russia, the world's two leading nuclear powers.
Asked how Moscow would respond to the missiles' extended range, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that the response “will be appropriate,” without providing specifics.
He said that authorizing Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory would serve as “further proof” of why Moscow launched its offensive, which he said was itself a “response” to Western support for Ukraine.
The United States has said it believes Russia could begin firing Iranian-made short-range missiles toward Ukraine within weeks.
Cash-strapped Iran has continued to sell the missiles despite repeated warnings from Western powers, which on Tuesday announced new sanctions against the clergy-led state.
The Iranian shipments have raised fears that Moscow may be free to use its long-range missiles against relatively unscathed areas in western Ukraine.
Earlier this year, the United States approved Ukraine’s use of Western weapons to target Russian forces in a cross-border conflict.
Biden has reportedly ended objections to Ukraine launching long-range Storm Shadow missiles at Russia.
A key demand from Ukraine is to ease restrictions on the U.S.-supplied Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), which can strike targets up to 300 kilometers (190 miles) away.
Both Republican and Democratic members of Congress have pressed Biden to act quickly and immediately on ATACMS.
Republicans, however, are deeply divided over Ukraine, and a November victory by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump over Biden’s heir apparent, Kamala Harris, could radically change U.S. politics.
Trump’s aides have speculated that, if he wins, he will use the aid to force Kiev to make territorial concessions to Russia to end the war.
In Tuesday's debate with Harris, Trump, who has previously expressed admiration for Putin, did not say he wanted Ukraine to win, only that he wanted to end the war as soon as possible.
