US House Speaker supports allowing Ukraine to hit Russia with US-supplied weapons

Commenting on Kyiv's request to allow Ukraine to use US-delivered weapons to strike Russian territory, House Speaker Mike Johnson has said that the US should allow Ukraine to wage war "in the way they see fit."

When asked whether the US should lift the ban on the use of its weapons to strike Russian targets in Russia, Johnson said: "I think we need to allow Ukraine to prosecute the war in the way they see fit."

"They need to be able to fight back. And I think us trying to micromanage their effort there is not good policy for us," Johnson said in a commentary to Kateryna Lisunova, Holos Ameryky (Voice of America) journalist. 

⚡️Asked @SpeakerJohnson about using US weapons on the RU territory?
⁰SPEAKER: I think, they need to allow Ukraine to prosecute the war the way they see fits. They need to be able to fight back. And I think us trying to micromanage the effort there it’s not a good policy for us. pic.twitter.com/71iLMTa9p8

— Kateryna Lisunova (@KaterynaLis) May 22, 2024

Earlier, the US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee released an appeal from a group of congressmen from both parties to Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin calling for a faster delivery of weapons to Ukraine and allowing Ukraine to attack targets in Russia.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed in an interview with Reuters that Ukraine is in talks with international partners about the possibility of striking targets in Russia with their weapons.