Robert F. Kennedy Jr has urged the Biden administration not to give Ukraine the green light to use American-supplied long-range weapons to strike at targets deep within Russian territory although no decision has yet been made on their use.
"Secretary Blinken, President Biden — STOP IT! Stop this reckless escalation. I say this not as a political partisan, but simply as a citizen of the world," Kennedy posted on his X channel next to a video of Vladimir Putin.
Kennedy had recently ended his independent presidential bid and backed Republican candidate Donald Trump, who has called for an end to continued American military assistance for Ukraine.
In his post, Kennedy had shared a clip of Putin's response to the prospect of western weapons being used on positions inside Russia, which the Russian president said "we will take appropriate decisions based on the threats."
Ukraine has been lobbying hard for the U.S. and the U.K. to drop their prohibition on American ATACMS and British Storm Shadow missiles to be used to target Russian territory, amid concerns that their use would escalate the conflict.
George Beebe, a former director of CIA's Russia analysis, told Newsweek that the dangers of providing Ukraine with the ability to strike deep into Russia far outweigh the potential benefits.
"There is little reason to believe that the provision of these air-launched cruise missiles will significantly increase Ukraine's chances of winning the war," he said.
"This has become a war of attrition, and the Russians have enormous advantages over Ukraine in population and military manufacturing."
"The Russians are wearing down the Ukrainians' ability to put well trained, well equipped forces into battle, and getting air-launched cruise missiles won't change that," added Beebe, director of the grand strategy program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.
However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that his country needed the long-range capabilities, as well as air defense "to protect life and our people."
Meanwhile, proponents of the move say that the uncertainty over whether long-range weapons can be used by Kyiv was playing into Putin's hands. Kurt Volker, former US special representative for Ukraine negotiations told the BBC Putin's comments was because he was interested in "deterring us from doing things." NATO's newest members Sweden and Finland said on Friday that Ukraine had permission to use the weapons it supplied for long-range strikes.
Following a meeting in Washington Friday between British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Joe Biden, national security council spokesman John Kirby said there was no announcement on any move.
Biden had said earlier in the week that he was "working on" Kyiv's demand to use long-range missiles. Previous reports in Politico and The Guardian had suggested that restrictions would be lifted from the U.S. and the U.K.
While Starmer said the U.K. and the U.S. had come to a "strong position," he suggested that a final decision on Storm Shadow had been deferred to the UN General Assembly this month.
Newsweek has contacted the White House and the State Department for comment.
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