President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said Tuesday that he planned to urge the leaders of the United States, Britain and France this week to allow Ukrainian forces to use weapons supplied by those nations for strikes deep into Russian territory.
Mr. Zelensky said he had yet to get permission from any of those countries, despite other NATO leaders arguing that Ukraine should be given leeway for broad use of missiles and other arms supplied by its partners. Mr. Zelensky said he would make his case in meetings with President Biden this week and in a meeting that he plans to have with Keir Starmer, the prime minister of Britain, and Emmanuel Macron, the president of France.
“Our decision depends on their will,” he said in an interview with The New York Times on Tuesday morning at the United Nations with Mette Frederiksen, the prime minister of Denmark. “For today, they have to give, or say that they will not give.”
Recent diplomatic debates among the three allied nations have focused on the question of allowing Ukraine to use imported weapons for long-range fire into Russia. Mr. Starmer and Mr. Macron are leaning toward giving permission, but want to coordinate a decision with Mr. Biden, who could soon decide to support Britain and France in loosening their restrictions before the United States does anything similar, U.S. officials say.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Mr. Biden has feared an escalation into a Russia-versus-NATO war, and has only gradually given Ukraine certain weapons systems and slowly loosened some restrictions on their use.
Ms. Frederiksen said in the joint interview that the United States and Europe must prepare to support Ukraine in a war that could last for years longer, and that means loosening arms restrictions.
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