US allowed Ukraine to strike any targets of Russian Federation on border - Politico
The US has allowed Ukraine to use US weapons to defeat any Russian forces attacking from across the border, not just those in the Kharkiv region.
According to Censor.NET, Politico writes about this with reference to US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and two unnamed US officials
The newspaper notes that this subtle change in the messaging of US officials comes just weeks after the US gave Kyiv the green light to launch strikes inside Russia in response to the cross-border attack on the city of Kharkiv. At the time, U.S. officials stressed that this policy was limited to the Kharkiv region.
Since then, Ukrainian forces have used US weapons to strike inside Russia at least once, destroying targets in the city of Belgorod, and have succeeded in holding back the Russian offensive. But Ukrainian and other European officials have pressed the United States to further ease its restrictions, allowing Ukraine to strike anywhere in Russia.
Sullivan said in an interview with PBS on Tuesday that the agreement with Ukraine on US weapons strikes against Russia covers "any place where Russian troops cross the border from the Russian side to the Ukrainian side to try to take more Ukrainian territory".
"It's not about geography. It's about common sense. If Russia is attacking or is going to attack Ukraine from its territory, it only makes sense to allow Ukraine to fight back against the forces that are attacking it from across the border," Sullivan added.
In recent days, Russia has said that it may soon advance on the northeastern city of Sumy, which is also close to the Russian border. If this happens, the policy of allowing strikes with provided weapons will be applied there, Sullivan said.
Two US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that allowing Ukraine to strike Russian territory "in response to fire from anywhere along the border" does not represent a change in White House policy. Initially, this step was only considered in the context of the Kharkiv offensive, but it does not exclude the possibility of strikes in response to other cross-border attacks.
However, Sullivan's language is markedly different from what US officials said in May when the new policy was being developed in detail.
At the time, a senior US official said: "The president recently instructed his team to ensure that Ukraine can use American weapons in response to the strikes on Kharkiv, so that Ukraine can retaliate against Russian forces that are launching or preparing to launch a strike."
The policy of preventing long-range strikes inside Russia "has not changed," the official stressed.
As a reminder, the US will give Ukraine priority in the supply of Patriot and NASAMS missiles, postponing the delivery of orders to other countries.
