The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | May 21st, 2024: Russia Claims US Missiles Used In Attack & ICC Fallout Intensifies

Episode Date: May 21, 2024

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:    Amid the Russian offensive in northeastern Ukraine, officials in Kyiv are intensely lobbying the White House to allow them to use American weapons for offensive strikes inside Russian territory, something the Biden administration has long feared could trigger escalation. As the fallout mounts regarding the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israeli leaders, Republican lawmakers are now calling for the U.S. to issue sanctions against the ICC. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin.  Email: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. With the Russian offensive in northeastern Ukraine underway, officials in Kiev are lobbying the White House to allow them to use American weapons for offensive strikes inside Russian territory. Now, it's something the Biden administration has pushed back against. As an example, while the Russian military has relentlessly targeted Ukraine's energy infrastructure, the White House has been pressuring Ukraine to not strike at Russian energy facilities within their reach. Also, as the fallout mounts regarding the international criminal court's decision to issue arrest warrants for Israeli leaders,

Republican lawmakers are now calling for the U.S. to issue sanctions against the ICC. Well, look, the ICC is essentially a feckless and toothless organization. Calling for sanctions against that entity is basically a waste of time. Maybe spend the energy focusing on bigger issues, like perhaps how best to deal with, with the Iranian regime's sponsorship of terrorism and pursuit of nukes. But first, our afternoon spotlight. Leaders in Kiev have become increasingly desperate in their pleas to the U.S. to allow them to use American weapons for offensive strikes inside Russian territory,

something that the Biden administration has argued against and continues to argue against. On Monday, a delegation of five Ukrainian members of parliament traveled to Washington to make their case in meetings with the Biden administration and with congressional officials, though their efforts are not really expected to move the needle. The Biden administration is attempting to balance support for Ukraine without causing an escalation with Moscow. Under the strain of Putin's current offensive, however, Ukrainian leaders say the U.S. needs to grant them more latitude, and that's according to a report from the Hill. The frustration was palpable during a media event in Washington on Monday, where the Ukrainian officials called the restrictions, quote, insane.

The head of the Ukrainian parliamentary delegation said, quote, it's like if somebody were to attack Washington, D.C. from the Virginia state, and you say we're not going to hit Virginia for some reason. It's crazy, end quote. Amid the discussions, Russian leaders threw a wrench into the situation by claiming that Ukraine used U.S. and French-made missiles in an attack on its border region of Belgarold on Saturday. Russia's Ministry of Defense claimed that four French-made hammer missiles and two U.S. made harm anti-radar missiles were used in the attack, according to an exclusive report from Business Insider. They further claimed to have shot down British Storm Shadow cruise missiles and Czech vampire rockets during the bombardment. Officials alleged it proved the West had

authorized the use of their weapons inside Russia, warning that Western leaders were, quote, playing with fire. A White House official immediately hit back telling business insider that the allegations were nothing more than Russian propaganda. We should note that while the U.S. and most NATO members want Ukraine to exercise restraint when it comes to striking inside Russia, fearing that it could trigger a wider escalation, officials in the U.K. said earlier this month that Ukraine has every right to strike targets using British supplied weapons. That triggered a rebuke from the Kremlin, who said the statement was an admission that the West was waging a, quote, hybrid war against Russia. In a sign that the U.S. has no plans to officially alter the policy,

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters on Monday that he expects Ukraine to continue to refrain from using U.S. weapons on Russian targets, despite the current gains being made by Russia in the northeast border region. Austin also provided an update of Russia's current offensive, saying, quote, weapons forces have opened another front to seize sovereign Ukrainian territory, and the Kremlin's invaders are obliterating Ukrainian villages, killing innocent civilians, and bombarding civilian infrastructure, including dams and power plants, end quote. The remarks came after a meeting of the Ukrainian Defense Contact Group, that's a coalition that oversees the coordination of weapons

shipments to Ukraine. As a reminder, the U.S. passed a long-delayed aid package in April, worth roughly 60 billion U.S. dollars. The Pentagon confirmed last week that initial batches of critical weapons and equipment have begun arriving in Ukraine, but the vast majority will still take time to reach the front lines. Officials have said that Ukraine currently only has about a quarter of the air defenses needed to keep Russia at bay. That's not a very optimistic perspective. For what it's worth, The Biden White House is essentially playing both sides here, meaning they're pushing and have pushed to provide more aid to Ukraine while constraining Ukraine's ability to fight to win. It's, I suppose, a stalemate strategy at best. More likely, it's actually a losing strategy.

The White House understands that Ukraine will be defeated without continued U.S. support, but they don't want Putin to lose out of fear of the unknown, the fear of what Putin. might do if Ukraine does level the playing field by targeting Russian facilities and energy infrastructure that's within their reach. So, the U.S. gives Ukraine the weaponry, but not the most advanced weaponry, and the weapons they do receive come with restrictions and conditions. It's like encouraging your kid to stand up for himself against the school bully, but telling your kid not to punch the bully in the nose, not to fight to win. Coming up after the break, we'll discuss the fallout from the International Criminal Court's decision to issue arrest warrants for Israeli leaders, as Republican lawmakers call for the U.S. to sanction the ICC. I'll be right back.

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International Criminal Court's announcement that they're seeking arrest warrants for senior members of the Israeli government. As we reported this morning, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan announced that his office is applying for warrants against Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yovgod, as well as three senior members of Hamas, claiming they bear responsibility for war crimes stemming from October 7th and the subsequent war in Gaza. Up on Capitol Hill, Republican lawmakers are now renewing calls for the U.S. to impose sanctions on the ICC. House Republican Conference leader Elis Stephanic of New York and Representative Chip Roy have introduced a bill that would sanction and revoke the visas of individuals involved in the ICC investigation

or prosecution of U.S. allies. In opposed to social platform X, Stefanik wrote, quote, The ICC is an illegitimate court that equivocates a peaceful nation protecting its right to exist with radical terror groups that commit genocide. Congress must pass the Illegimate Court Counteraction Act, which will punish those in the ICC that made this baseless undemocratic. decision, end quote. Stefanik's comments were echoed by House Speaker Mike Johnson, who called on Congress to review all options, including sanctions, to punish the ICC if they proceed with issuing the arrest warrants.

President Biden has denounced the court's announcement, calling the equivalence between Israel and Hamas outrageous. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Netanyahu, well, he doesn't appear too concerned about the development. The prime minister told CNN's Christian Amunpur, quote, I think that the prosecutor should be concerned about his status because he's really turning the ICC into a pariah institution. People are just not going to take it seriously. They see it as a politicized thing, end quote. One more interesting note. Should these warrants ultimately be issued, it would put Netanyahu in the same category as Russian President Vladimir Putin. In March of last

year, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin over the forced transfer of children to Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. Since then, Putin has been restricted in his international travels for fear he could be arrested. And today, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov never wanted to miss an opportunity to say something stupid, called U.S. sanction threats against the ICC, quote, more than curious, considering that it celebrated the warrant against President Putin. Peskov added that while Russia doesn't support the international court, it's closely monitoring the outcome of the case against Netanyahu. And finally, since we were talking about fictless international organizations, I think a quick mention of a surreal event is an order that took place at the United Nations

in the wake of the death of Iranian President Ibrahim Risi, fondly remembered by his nickname the butcher of Tehran. The UN Security Council called for an official moment of silence during a council session. the members all stood up, including the U.S. Representative Robert Wood, to remember Reisy. Now, if there was an example of just how useless and lacking in principle the UN has become, well, honoring a tyrannical leader like Recy who was responsible for the deaths of thousands of his citizens, the murder of countless people via the terrorist proxies that he helped build, and the oppression of the rights of the Iranian people, well, that moment of silence would be it. and it's embarrassing and shameful that the U.S. representative at the U.N. would take part by unassing his chair and standing with the others.

And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Tuesday, 21 May. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdb at thefirsttv.com. And if you want to listen to the show ad-free, be sure to check out our premium membership at pdbpremium.com. Also, a quick thank you for tuning in. this past Saturday to the debut episode of our new extended weekend show, the PDB Situation Report. Remember, every Saturday, the Situation Report will bring you a more in-depth look at what's happening around the globe, along with expert guests and analysis, and all with the magic of full-color-moving pictures and stereophonic sound, available on all the podcast platforms and on the First TV network,

as well as our YouTube channel at President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool. Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile, the message for everyone paying big wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop. With Mint, you can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying, no judgments, but that's weird.

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