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United States President, Joe Biden, on Friday lift a ban on Ukraine using US weapons inside Russian territory to help the country defend its northeastern Kharkiv region from attack.
The region which had come under Russian attack this month, several US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, disclosed that Kyiv would be allowed to use US weapons on the border of the Kharkiv region.
The decision marked a policy shift by Biden, who had previously refused to let Kyiv use US weapons beyond Ukraine’s borders. This change came as France and other European countries indicated Ukraine would be allowed to use their weapons on military targets inside Russia.
Amid the debate, Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier warned of “serious consequences”, stressing his country’s nuclear strength if Ukraine’s Western allies loosened their policy.
“The president recently directed his team to ensure that Ukraine was able to use US-supplied weapons for counter-fire purposes in the Kharkiv region so Ukraine could hit back against Russian forces that were attacking them or preparing to attack them,” a US official told Reuters, AFP, and The Associated Press news agencies.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had been urging Kyiv’s allies to allow it to use their longer-range weaponry to hit targets on Russian soil amid a surge in attacks this month, particularly on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, some 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the border with Russia.
A Russian attack at midnight (21:00 GMT) killed at least three people and injured 16 after a Russian missile hit an apartment block in the city.
Alexander Vindman, a retired army lieutenant colonel and former director for European affairs at the White House National Security Council under the Trump administration, applauded the shift in Biden’s policy, which he said “unties Ukraine’s hands”. “Of course, it’s the right and sensitive move."
