A top Democratic lawmaker is pushing the Biden administration to send Ukraine armed drones and longer range artillery, he told reporters Wednesday.
“When it comes to drones and when it comes to long-range artillery, we’ve been too cautious,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., said at an event hosted by the Defense Writers Group.
“And I don’t agree with the president’s take that we can’t give the Ukrainians anything capable of striking Russia,” Smith continued. “Ukraine borders Russia. If you give them a mortar shell that can go a mile, theoretically it can strike Russia. The issue is, if the Russians are able to see better and shoot further, then you’re in a disadvantage. So I think we should give them more of that.”
Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced it was sending Ukraine medium-range rocket systems known as High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems for the first time.
But it did so after weeks of debate about whether sending Ukraine the system would unnecessarily provoke Russia into escalating the conflict. And when the shipment was announced, administration officials stressed that Ukraine had offered assurances it would not use the rockets against targets inside Russia and that it was sending a system with a range of about 45 miles, rather than much longer range systems that can strike as far as 180 miles.
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