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Generals, Diplomats, and Civil Society Leaders Sign Open Letter to #LetUkraineStrikeBack
Sep 10
September 10, 2024
Washington, DC – As U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy arrive in Kyiv to deliver a message of steadfast support for Ukraine, 17 former American and British officials and experts have sent Blinken and Lammy the following letter urging an immediate change in US policy. This open letter was first published on www.LetUkraineStrikeBack.com.
Dear Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Foreign Secretary David Lammy, With news of your upcoming trip to Kyiv, we write as national security experts and former government officials from the United States and the United Kingdom to urge you to lift restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Western-provided weapons to strike deep into Russia. Our respective countries have made the admirable decision to equip Ukraine with ATACMS and Storm Shadow long-range missiles, but have made this aid less impactful by arbitrarily limiting how Kyiv can use it. We must act with alacrity. A change in policy cannot come soon enough. This winter will be the worst yet as Ukrainians attempt to keep their country running despite Moscow’s intensified bombings to destroy the Ukrainian energy grid and freeze them in their homes. After more than 900 days of war, we can safely assert that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s repeated threats are nothing less than an attempt to deter Ukraine’s partners from properly arming her. Easing the restrictions on Western weapons will not cause Moscow to escalate. We know this because Ukraine is already striking territory Russia considers its own—including Crimea and Kursk—with these weapons and Moscow’s response remains unchanged. Iran has deepened its support for Russia’s invasion by providing short-range ballistic missiles that will be used on Ukrainian civilians. Ukraine should be empowered to use Western-provided weapons to destroy the sites where these missiles are housed should it have the opportunity, along with the more than 200 other Russian military and paramilitary targets identified by the Institute for the Study of War as being in range of Ukrainian ATACMS. It’s far more cost-effective to destroy the archer rather than the arrow. We urge you to listen to your partners in Kyiv this week and allow Ukraine to strike all legitimate targets in Russia with the weapons the U.S. and U.K. have provided. Let Ukraine defend itself. Sincerely, Gen. Philip Breedlove (ret.) 17th Supreme Allied Commander, Europe Ian Brzezinski Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Europe and NATO Policy Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council Dora Chomiak CEO Razom for Ukraine Gen. Wesley Clark (ret.) 12th Supreme Allied Commander, Europe Amb. Paula J. Dobriansky Former Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs Amb. Eric S. Edelman Former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Amb. Daniel Fried Former Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia Former U.S. Ambassador to Poland Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges (ret.) Former Commanding General, U.S. Army Europe John Lough Associate Fellow Russia & Eurasia Programme Chatham House The Hon. Tom Malinowski Former Representative for New Jersey’s 7th District, U.S. House of Representatives Former Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Amb. Michael McFaul Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Director at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University Amb. Michael McKinley Former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan and Brazil Dr. Alan Mendoza Co-Founder and Executive Director The Henry Jackson Society James Nixey Director Russia & Eurasia Programme Chatham House Amb. Steven Pifer Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Amb. Alexander Vershbow Former NATO Deputy Secretary General Former Assistant Secretary of Defense Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Amb. Marie Yovanovitch Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine *Affiliations are included for identification purposes only and do not indicate institutional endorsement.Â
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