U.S. President Joe Biden is considering two options to influence Russia's aggressive actions: lifting limits on Ukrainian use of Western weapons to strike military targets in Russia and to punish China for supplying key technologies to the Russian military-industrial complex.
The Washington Post writes about this.
It is noted that these steps will be a significant escalation for Biden's carefully calibrated policy of supporting Ukraine. And the fact that such steps are now being considered shows the administration's growing concern about Ukraine's vulnerability on the battlefield.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has taken a harder line after recent visits to Beijing and Kyiv. While in Beijing in late April, he said that China was "helping fuel the greatest threat to Europe" since the fall of the Soviet Union and indicated that the United States was considering new sanctions against Chinese companies and financial institutions. Blinken then visited Kyiv and urged his colleagues in the Joe Biden administration to reconsider Ukraine's ban on the use of U.S. artillery and short-range missiles against military targets in Russia.
U.S. officials are concerned that Russia is massing troops and equipment right on the border to attack Kharkiv and other cities in eastern Ukraine. U.S. artillery and short-range missiles could hit these targets. But for now, the United States is limiting their use, so the Ukrainian Armed Forces cannot strike Russian logistical and troop-marshalling centers. But the situation may change as other NATO countries put press Biden to loosen controls.
Earlier, Apostrophe reported that Ukraine will receive the first radar reconnaissance aircraft from Sweden.