US refusal to support Ukraine’s ‘take-the-war-to Russia’ strategy widens rift between Biden and Zelensky

ZELENSKY: ‘REMOVE THE BARRIERS’: While Ukraine is fighting off a massive Russian effort to take the strategic crossroads of Pokrovsk on its eastern front in Donetsk, its counterattack in the Kursk region of Russia continues to gain ground against a largely ineffective Russian force comprised mostly of green conscripts, who are quick to flee or surrender.

“The operation is unfolding exactly as we expected. The bravery of Ukrainians is achieving great things. Now we are reinforcing our positions. The foothold of our presence is getting stronger,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a weekend video address . Increasingly frustrated by the limits on the use of U.S. weapons, Zelensky once again called for “bold steps, bold decisions” to allow Ukraine to take the war to Russian soil.

“It is undoubtedly important for us that our partners remove the barriers that prevent us from weakening Russian positions as required by the course of the war,” Zelensky said. “The long-range capabilities of our forces are the answer to all the most important, to all the most strategic issues of this war.”

Those long-range capabilities have allowed Ukraine to take out three key bridges , greatly limiting Russia’s ability to reinforce and supply its embattled troops in Kursk.

“Russia is feeling comfortable because essentially whatever they lose, they lose on our territory,” Andriy Zagorodnyuk , Ukraine's former defense minister, said on CNN on Sunday. “We'd like to move the problems to Russia because so far the whole weight of the war, everything which is they're doing to us, it's been on the territory of Ukraine.”

“So we were bringing the war to their country in order for them to start diverting their troops from Ukraine and actually taking care of their territory rather than trying to grab ours,” Zagorodnyuk said. “Ukraine does not need Russia territory forever. We don't have any kind of appetite to grab somebody else's land. What we need to do is we need to make sure that they fail at occupying ours.”

WHITE HOUSE TRYING ‘TO GLEAN MORE INFORMATION’: It’s a criticism that has been leveled at President Joe Biden since the earliest days of the war. Intimidated by Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats and fearful of a sparking World War III, the United States and its Western allies have given Ukraine enough military aid to prevent it from losing but not enough to win. The Biden administration has held firm to its policy “to neither encourage nor enable” strikes on Russian territory, and Ukraine’s still-expanding counter-invasion into Russia’s Kursk region is testing the bounds of those U.S.-imposed limits.

“They still have U.S. permission to use U.S. weapons to face imminent threats right across the border. That policy hasn't changed,” John Kirby , national security communications adviser, said Friday, clearly signaling the White House is in the dark about what Ukraine is thinking. “We're in touch with our Ukrainian counterparts to try to glean more information here and context about what they're doing. I think I'll probably just need to leave it at that.”

After being thwarted at least twice in the past by U.S. objections from conducting secret missions to surprise Russia on its own territory, this time around Ukraine apparently decided it would be better to seek forgiveness than ask permission.

For all of Putin’s so-far empty threats, the Pentagon continues to defend Biden’s decision to limit Ukraine's attacks on Russia to rocket and missile strikes just across the border, out of fear of escalation. “We believe the best way that they can be effective on the battlefield is by knitting those capabilities together and continuing to push forces back to regain their sovereign territory. That doesn't necessarily happen by doing long-range, deep strikes within Russia,” Sabrina Singh , deputy Pentagon press secretary, told reporters last week . And, of course, we're worried about escalation. So just because Russia hasn't responded to something doesn't mean that they can't or won't in the future.”

‘FOR PITY'S SAKE, CAN WE FINALLY CUT THE CACKLE?’ With Ukraine’s successful foray into Russia, which has yielded territory it can use as a bargaining chip in future negotiations and hundreds of prisoners it can swap for Ukrainian POWs, the calls for Biden to give Ukraine a free hand to fight the war on its own terms are rising to a fever pitch.

“Ukraine is finally in a position where they can hold Russia accountable,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) said on CBS’s Face the Nation. “If they can use long-range weapon systems to hold accountable Russia's valid military targets that are attacking Ukraine, we can change the dynamics on the ground. You can't continue to just have a front line in Ukraine.”

“I just got back from Ukraine. I am in awe of these people,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “The No. 1 request of President Zelensky of me was to go to President Biden and ask him to lift the restrictions on how they can use weapons.”

“We've got to get Putin to the table, and he will come to the table when the pain gets too great," he added. "Lift the restrictions, President Biden, on the weapons that have been late to get to Ukraine.”

Reports in the British press suggest that Biden is not only restricting the use of U.S. weapons but is urging the United Kingdom to impose similar restrictions on missiles it has provided to Ukraine, something Zelensky seemed to reference in his Saturday remarks. “We have seen throughout this war that the United Kingdom has shown real leadership, in weaponry, in politics, and in supporting the life of Ukrainian society,” he said. “But now, unfortunately, the situation has slowed down. We will discuss how to fix this.”

In an essay in the Daily Mail, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pointedly called for an end to “the delay and the half-measures.”

“We can all see why the Kursk operation is tactically brilliant,” Johnson wrote. “So for pity's sake, can we finally cut the cackle, drop the ludicrous Putin-phobia and give the Ukrainians the tools they really need to finish the job; and by that I mean the proper permission to use the tools we have already given.”

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Good Monday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre ( @jamiejmcintyre ) and edited by Stacey Dec . Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com . If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow me on Threads and/or on X @jamiejmcintyre

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HAPPENING TODAY: Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Israel today meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials as the U.S. expresses cautious optimism that the latest talks will conclude with a ceasefire deal that would end the war in Gaza and free the remaining hostages held by Hamas in its Oct. 7 attack.

“I’m here as part of an intensive diplomatic effort on President Biden’s instructions to try to get this agreement to the line and, ultimately, over the line. It is time for it to get done,” Blinken said before a meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv. “The focus of my visit is intensely on getting the hostages back, getting the ceasefire done. It is time for everyone to get to yes and to not look for any excuses to say no.”

After two days of talks in Qatar last week, during which the mediators put forth a “bridging proposal,” both Hamas and Israel have accused the other of attempting to sabotage the deal. Mediators are expected to hold another round of high-level talks with Israel in Egypt later this week.

“I know this is a fraught moment in Israel with deep concern about the possibility of attacks coming from Iran, coming from Hezbollah and other sources,” Blinken said. “The United States has taken decisive action to deploy forces here to deter any attacks and, if necessary, to defend against any attacks.

CEASEFIRE NEGOTIATORS ‘AIM TO CONCLUDE’ DEAL BY END OF NEXT WEEK

HAPPENING TONIGHT: The Democratic National Convention begins the first of four nights in Chicago, with President Joe Biden scheduled to give what amounts to a valedictory speech touting his achievements while in office, throwing his full support behind his Vice President Kamala Harris and attacking her rival, former President Donald Trump , as a threat to democracy. Biden is expected to take the stage around 9:45 p.m.

First lady Jill Biden is set to introduce the president, and Hillary Clinton , the former secretary of state, New York senator, and presidential candidate, is also on the bill tonight.

Tomorrow, Harris’s husband, Doug Emhoff , speaks, along with Barack and Michelle Obama and Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) . Harris’s running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) , former President Bill Clinton, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) , and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speak Wednesday.

A late addition is former six-term Rep. Adam Kinzinger , the Republican who voted to impeach Trump and is endorsing Harris. Then Harris will accept the nomination while addressing the convention Thursday night.

Uninvited guests include thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators who have arrived in Chicago to protest the Biden-Harris administration’s support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

TRUMP CAMPAIGN HITTING KEY BATTLEGROUND STATES IN EFFORT TO COUNTER DNC

McMASTER WELCOMED TRUMP’S DISRUPTION: Retired Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster said he doesn’t regret any of his 13 months serving as Trump’s national security adviser, describing what he called “next-level friction” in an Oval Office atmosphere of “competitive sycophancy" as staff members fell over one another “trying to suck up to the president.”

“He really likes the adulation. In many ways, he's kind of addicted to adulation from his political base, from people around him,” McMaster told CBS Sunday Morning correspondent David Martin in an interview promoting his forthcoming book, At War With Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House. “I got used up essentially in the service of Donald Trump. I was at peace with that. And I was not going to try to keep my job by telling the president what he wanted to hear."

McMaster sensed his time would be short but welcomed the idea of helping Trump shake things up, especially after what he considered the weak foreign policy of the Obama years: “I saw actually so many of our policies as in need of disruption. I was grateful for his disruptive nature. I saw it as my job to try to help him disrupt what needed to be disrupted."

That put McMaster at odds with Trump Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis , who McMaster said believed Trump was dangerous. “They regarded the president as a danger to U.S. interests, a danger to some of our relationships internationally."

McMaster said he didn’t share that view, but he noted Trump’s mercurial nature and often “reflexively contrarian” responses to any advice he didn’t like made him an unpleasant person to be around. “At times he could be nasty, especially when he's tired, especially when he's grumpy, especially when he feels beleaguered. There were a couple times where, you know, nobody wanted to be around him,” McMaster said. “President Trump does enjoy kind of pitting people against each other, you know? That creates a lot of angst in people."

But one person who had Trump’s number was Putin, whom McMaster said Trump admired. “President Trump sees in authoritarian leaders the qualities that he wants other people to see in him," he said, noting Putin would appeal to Trump's “desire for flattery. He would appeal to the president's skepticism about long-term military commitments abroad."

McMaster’s book will be released next Tuesday, Aug. 27.

PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS JAB EACH OTHER OVER MILITARY COMMENTS

THE RUNDOWN:

Washington Examiner : Zelensky lays out strategy to create 'buffer zone' in Kursk

Washington Examiner : Ceasefire negotiators ‘aim to conclude’ deal by end of next week

Washington Examiner : Hezbollah willing to hold off of retaliation against Israel for ceasefire talks

Washington Examiner : Presidential campaigns jab each other over military comments

Washington Examiner : Texas stopped busing migrants to Democratic cities despite Abbott’s claims the program is ‘rolling’

Washington Examiner : ICE increasingly arresting violent criminals released into US from southern border

Washington Examiner : No, the US didn’t give Mossad agent names to Iran

Washington Examiner : House Oversight opens investigation into Tim Walz’s ties to China

Washington Examiner : Four times military service has defined a campaign

Washington Examiner : DOJ dropping most Jan. 6 obstruction charges in pending cases

New York Times : Ukraine, Pressing Its Offensive, Destroys Key Bridge in Russia’s Kursk Region

Washington Post : Ukraine’s offensive derails secret efforts for partial cease-fire with Russia, officials say

AP : Former Saudi official alleges Prince Mohammed forged king’s signature on Yemen war decree, BBC says

USNI News : Carrier USS Abraham Lincoln Leaves South China Sea, Bound For Middle East

AP : Ukrainian president says push into Russia’s Kursk region is to create a buffer zone there

Defense.info : EU Initiative to Arm Ukraine: Beset by Allegations of Mismanagement and Corruption

Washington Pos t: Chinese And Philippine Ships Collide At Sabina Shoal, A New Flash Point

NBC News : Why the US Could Get Drawn into a Conflict in the South China Sea

Reuters : China And Vietnam's Top Leaders Meet In Beijing

CNN : Old Aircraft Carrier, Once Part Of Mighty Soviet Fleet, Burns In Chinese Lagoon

Defense One : INDOPACOM Wants More Special Operators in the Pacific

The War Zone : Cessna Caravan Turned into Cargo Drone Tested at China-Focused Airpower Exercise

CBS : Trump says Medal of Freedom "equivalent" to and "much better" than Medal of Honor, sparking backlash from veterans

Military Times : Lawmakers push Pentagon for clarity on domestic military deployments

DefenseScoop : What’s Unique About DIU’s New Prize Challenge to Extend the Pentagon’s Drone Supply

Air & Space Forces Magazine : Allvin: Vision for New Requirements Command May Be the Toughest of Air Force Reforms

SpaceNews : US Space Command Chief Expresses Support for Army’s Space Initiatives

Air & Space Forces Magazine : Space Force Relies on Airmen to Recruit, But Change Is Coming

Air & Space Forces Magazine : SDA Hands Out $424 Million for Advanced Comms Satellites

Soldier of Fortune : Entebbe: The Story of Israel’s Daring Raid to Rescue Its Hostages, Told by a Commando Who Was on the Mission

Air & Space Forces Magazine : Yokota Evacuates C-130Js Ahead of Major Typhoon

Stars and Stripes : 10 Sailors Injured In Seahawk Helicopter Training Mishap In Nevada

Military Times : Airman Deployed to ‘Undisclosed Location’ Dies in Non-Combat Incident

AP : Lawyer and Family of US Air Force Airman Killed by Florida Deputy Demand That He Face Charges

CBS News : Suspect, Security Exchange Fire Outside Entrance of Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland

Militay.com : 4-Star Commander Denies Request to Wear Boonie Hats at Nellis Air Force Base amid Standards Push

THE CALENDAR:

MONDAY | AUGUST 19

6:30 p.m. Chicago, Illinois — 2024 Democratic National Convention, with remarks scheduled from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Joe Biden . Livestream at https://demconvention.com/

TUESDAY | AUGUST 20

9 a.m. — Intelligence and National Security Alliance virtual discussion: "Beyond the Big Six: The Pivotal Roles of Lesser Known IC (Intelligence Community) Agencies," with Assistant Treasury Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis Shannon Corless ; Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research Lisa Kenna ; Jay Tilden , director, Energy Department Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence; and former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Sue Gordon , INSA senior intelligence adviser https://www.insaonline.org/detail-pages/event/2024

10 a.m. — Brookings Institution virtual discussion: “The Wagner Group and Russia in Africa one year after Prigozhin’s death,” with Christopher Faulkner , assistant professor, College of Distance Education, U.S. Naval War College; Mark Galeotti , executive director, Mayak Intelligence; John Lechner , independent researcher; Angela Stent , nonresident senior fellow, Brookings Center on the United States and Europe; and moderator Vanda Felbab-Brown , senior fellow and director, Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors, co-director, Brookings Africa Security Initiative https://www.brookings.edu/events/the-wagner-group-and-russia

12 p.m. — Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft virtual discussion: "Heading Toward War? Reevaluating Taiwan's Status Quo," with Paul Heer , Chicago Council on Global Affairs nonresident senior fellow; Shelley Rigger , professor of Asian studies at Davidson College; and Michael Swaine , Quincy Institute senior research fellow https://quincyinst.org/events/heading-toward-war-reevaluating-taiwans-status-quo/

7 p.m. Chicago, Illinois — 2024 Democratic National Convention, with remarks scheduled from former President Barack Obama . Livestream at https://demconvention.com/

WEDNESDAY | AUGUST 21

7 p.m. Chicago, Illinois — 2024 Democratic National Convention, with remarks scheduled from former President Bill Clinton and Vice President Kamala Harris's running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) . Livestream at https://demconvention.com/

8 p.m. — Jews United for Democracy virtual discussion: "The World At War: Is There A Chance For Peace?" with retired Adm. Michael Mullen , former Joint Chiefs chairman, and Warren Olney , former host and executive producer of the program To The Point https://www.jewsunitedfordemocracy.org/event/august-21-mike-mullen

THURSDAY | AUGUST 22

7 p.m. Chicago, Illinois — 2024 Democratic National Convention, with remarks scheduled from Vice President Kamala Harris . Livestream at https://demconvention.com/

FRIDAY | AUGUST 23

10 a.m. 2401 M St., NW — George Washington University Project for Media and National Security Defense Writers Group “Coffee Conversation,” with Christopher Maier , assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict. RSVP: alaysia.mckenzie@gwu.edu