#ushousespeaker

“(Ukraine needs) to be able to fight back. And I think us trying to micromanage the effort there is not a good policy for us.” ~ Speaker of the House of Representatives, U.S. Congress, Mike Johnson 🇺🇦💙💛🇺🇸

#Repost @kyivindependent_official with @use.repost . . . U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared to endorse enabling Ukraine to strike targets in Russian territory with U.S.-supplied weapons on May 22.

Responding to a question from Voice of America about the current American policy that restricts the usage, Johnson said the U.S. should “allow Ukraine to prosecute the war in the way they see fit.”

“(Ukraine needs) to be able to fight back. And I think us trying to micromanage the effort there is not a good policy for us,” he added.

Johnson’s comments came two days after a bipartisan group of congressmen urged the Pentagon to change the restriction, saying that it has prevented Ukrainians from being able to “defend themselves.”

The sentiment was recently echoed by Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, who said that the U.S. restriction on using long-range ATACMS missiles inside Russia was a “mistake.”

U.S. officials have repeatedly said that they do not support or encourage Kyiv’s strikes with American weapons deep inside Russia, while Ukrainian officials are reportedly trying to convince Washington to lift this ban.

Ukraine recently said that Washington’s ban meant Ukraine was unable to attack Russian forces as they were building up before crossing the border into Kharkiv Oblast in the renewed Russian offensive that began earlier in May.

Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images

In its Ukraine War Latest update for April 17, 2024, @kyivindependent_official reported that U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson has told U.S. lawmakers that the vote on a series of foreign aid bills for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan will be held in the evening of April 20. 🇺🇦💙💛🇺🇸

#Repost @kyivindependent_official with @use.repost . . . U.S. President Joe Biden has called for “leadership and courage” in Washington in order to pass urgent military aid for Ukraine and Israel, adding “now is not the time to abandon our friends,” in an op-ed published April 17.

“Both Ukraine and Israel are under attack by brazen adversaries that seek their annihilation,” Biden wrote in the Wall Street Journal, adding: “Mr (Vladimir) Putin wants to subjugate the people of Ukraine and absorb their nation into a new Russian empire.

“The government of Iran wants to destroy Israel forever – wiping the world’s only Jewish state off the map.”

Assistance for Kyiv has been blocked by political wrangling for months, leading to a rapidly deteriorating situation on the battlefield.

While the Senate passed a $95 billion foreign aid bill for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan in February, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said he instead plans to hold a vote on four separate bills in his chamber this week.

The bill faces resistance from hardline Republicans, who oppose assistance for Ukraine altogether, and there are fears that the party’s right flank would seek to oust Johnson if he moves forward with the bill.

“It’s a strong and sensible plan,” Biden wrote. “It shouldn’t be held hostage any longer by a small group of extreme Republican House members.

“Mr. Putin has tried relentlessly to break the will of the Ukrainian people. He has failed. Now he’s trying to break the will of the West.

“We cannot let him succeed. There are moments in history that call for leadership and courage.

“This is one of them.”

Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images