U.S. may lift ban on Ukraine using American-supplied weapons to strike inside Russia

Senior U.S. officials tell me, while the idea of using NATO assets to shoot down Russian missiles over Ukraine is deemed too risky, there is a debate about whether to allow Ukraine to use American weapons to target Russian weapons just over the border inside Russia.

And The New York Times today reported Secretary of State Antony Blinken has now endorsed that idea.

So, should the U.S. lift restrictions on where Ukraine can fire American weapons?

For that, we get two views. William Taylor was U.S. ambassador to Ukraine during the George W. Bush administration. And Emma Ashford is a senior fellow at the Stimson Center and writes widely about U.S. foreign policy.

Thanks very much. Welcome, both of you, back to the "NewsHour."

Ambassador Taylor, let me start with you.

Should the U.S. allow Ukraine to use American weapons against Russian targets in Russia, whether on the ground in Russia or in the air above Russia, not only on the border, but deeper inside Russia?

William Taylor, Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine: Nick, I'd say yes.

If the Russians are firing at Ukrainians from a sanctuary, which is really what they have right now, then the Ukrainians ought to be able to shoot back. This is basic self-defense. And some of the Russian fire is coming from close by, close across the border in that sanctuary, but some is coming from airfields.

So there are Russian jets that are taking off from airfields and that are launching these glide bombs that are going into Kharkiv, as you just described. So, yes, I think the Ukrainians ought to be able to shoot back.