Ukraine can use US weapons for limited strikes in Russia, Biden says

President Biden will allow Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied weapons against limited military targets in Russia, officials said Thursday, a dramatic reversal of a long-standing precautionary measure that comes as kyiv struggles to defend its second largest city from a devastating attack.

The policy change, revealed by U.S. officials on condition of anonymity to discuss the president's decision, allows Ukrainian commanders to retaliate against Russian forces that attack them or prepare to attack them in and around Kharkiv, near the border in the northeast of Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky and other senior officials in his government pushed for the change with growing urgency as Russia continued its assault there, emboldened by the Kremlin's knowledge of Washington's red lines, according to reports. Kiev officials.

The move draws Biden even deeper into a war in which Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly raised the prospect of a nuclear strike, a concern for a U.S. leader who matured amid the U.S.-Soviet nuclear clashes of the 1960s Biden has been cautious about escalation, but he is also aware that the Ukrainians have repeatedly been granted greater capabilities and faced a Kremlin that has failed to respond.

In recent days, a growing number of the United States' European allies have also urged the administration to drop its opposition, signaling their intention to authorize the use of their own weapons against military targets on Russian soil. Although Ukraine used some European weapons as well as its own to fight back, Washington's decision was the most significant because of the quantity and quality of its equipment.

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This change allows Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied artillery and rocket launchers to strike Russian troops and equipment just across the border from Kharkiv and to strike missiles aimed at Ukrainian territory, U.S. officials said. They stressed that the Biden administration's policy prohibiting longer-range strikes in Russia has not changed.

This meets the Ukrainian request, which was to be able to respond to attacks emanating from this area of ​​Russia's Belgorod region, to be able to strike Russian forces and weapons depots, a US official said, adding that Ukraine does not was unable to respond to Ukraine's request. asking for a general policy change and let's not change this policy.

The Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Speaking earlier Thursday, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin's chief spokesman, blasted the United States and its NATO allies, saying the alliance was responsible for sparking a further escalation of tensions.

They do it deliberately, Peskov said. We hear a lot of bellicose statements.

Biden's reassessment, first reported by Politico, had been in the works for several weeks. It's a byproduct, officials said, of Russia's new cross-border attack on Kharkiv, growing pressure from across Europe and a visit to kyiv this month by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken who reinforced the peril Ukraine faces after more than two years of war. war.

Ukraine has resisted Russian forces with increasing difficulty in recent months, while U.S. military aid virtually dried up last fall after congressional Republicans spoke out against additional aid. kyiv has faced dwindling stocks of ammunition and anti-aircraft missiles, to the point that diplomats in the Ukrainian capital began to worry this spring about a sudden collapse of the front lines and a possible defeat. Ukrainian major.

That changed after Congress approved the aid last month. But Ukrainian morale remains low and a lack of trained soldiers means the front lines remain vulnerable despite the resumption of US military assistance. Russia, meanwhile, took the opportunity to move toward Kharkiv and other parts of the long front line, attempting to exploit the window before more U.S. aid helps stabilize the troops from kyiv.

Ukrainian officials first requested permission from the White House weeks ago, on May 13, days after the assault on Kharkiv began and the day before Blinken arrived in kyiv, a another US official said. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. agreed to recommend a policy change in favor of Biden, said the manager.

Sullivan conveyed the recommendation to the president two days later, as Blinken was leaving kyiv, and Biden accepted it the same day, May 15, the official said. Blinken, meeting with Biden later in the week after his trip to Ukraine, agreed that the change made sense, the official said, adding that Biden had asked senior officials to work through details and risks before a final approval.

Biden approved the change several days ago, and the policy took effect Thursday.

Blinken, during a visit to Moldova this week, became the first senior Biden administration official to publicly indicate that Washington was considering a policy shift, telling reporters that as the battlefield has changed, it what Russia is doing has changed in terms of pursuing its goals. the aggression, the escalation, we have also adapted and adjusted.

Blinken emerged from his trip to kyiv this month convinced that some form of limited policy change was necessary, officials said. At a closed-door meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Prague on Thursday, the top US diplomat hinted at an imminent policy change but did not provide details, one attendee said. When asked directly about it at one point, he smiled but remained silent, the person said.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a recent interview with The Economist that now is the time for allies to rethink their restrictions. Especially now, when many battles are taking place in Kharkiv, near the border, to deny Ukraine the possibility of using these weapons against legitimate military targets on Russian territory, it is very difficult for it to defend itself.

Since then, allies like France, the Netherlands, Canada and Finland have echoed this sentiment.

During a visit to kyiv this month, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Ukraine had the right to use weapons supplied by London to strike targets in Russia. Just as Russia strikes inside Ukraine, you can completely understand why Ukraine feels the need to look after its own defense.

Although Moscow claims that five regions of Ukraine, including Crimea, are Russian territory, it is sensitive to growing calls to allow Ukraine to use Western weapons to strike military targets in Russia itself. . Putin warned earlier this week that this could lead to serious consequences.

In a sign of the Kremlin's concern, Putin suggested that Russia could resort to nuclear strikes against small European countries if NATO allowed Ukraine to attack what he called deep within Russian territory. He warned that NATO officials should be fully aware of the stakes.

If Europe were to face these serious consequences, what would the United States do, given our parity in strategic arms? It's hard to say, he said, referring to U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals. Are they looking for global conflict?

Under pressure from kyiv and its European allies, Biden's risk appetite changed several times during the war when he decided to expand Ukraine's arsenal with Stinger missiles, HIMARS launchers, advanced missile defense systems, drones, helicopters, M1 Abrams tanks and fighter jets.

Facing restrictions on U.S. support for cross-border attacks, Ukraine is using its own long-range attack drones to strike Russian civilian and military targets. But these planes have payload limits and are not as efficient.

U.S. officials remain concerned about Ukrainian cross-border attacks on Russian territory, including targeting oil refineries and nuclear warning systems, fearing they could dangerously destabilize Moscow. Washington has expressed concerns to kyiv over two attempted attacks last week against radar stations that provide conventional air defense as well as warning of nuclear launches by the West. At least one strike in Armavir, in Russia's Krasnodar region, appears to have caused damage.

Russia's progress has also sparked discussions among allies about sending military instructors to Ukraine, a move long seen as potentially leading to escalation. But battlefield conditions appear to have convinced some allies that it makes sense to move training closer to Ukrainian troops, allowing them to move more quickly and easily to the front line.

In February, French President Emmanuel Macron surprised many by suggesting that nothing should be ruled out regarding sending trainers to Ukraine, but he did not provide concrete details.

Ukraine's top general, Oleksandr Syrsky, announced this week that Ukraine and France had signed a deal allowing French soldiers to train troops on Ukrainian soil, then quickly backtracked on the deal, saying that the matter was still under discussion.

But French officials did not deny that talks were moving forward, suggesting an announcement about some sort of training mission could be coming soon.

Any training, NATO diplomats stressed, would be organized bilaterally between member states and Ukraine, not by NATO itself, which has kept its official distance from the war.

Biden has long ruled out sending US troops to Ukraine. It remains to be seen whether this ban will be left aside, like its other red lines.

Hudson and Rauhala reported from Prague. Robyn Dixon in Riga, Latvia, and Alex Horton, Tyler Pager and Dan Lamothe in Washington contributed to this report.

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