Joe Biden allows Ukraine limited use of US weapons to strike Russia: US officials

The U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Biden's decision applied only to targets in Russia, near the border with the Kharkiv region, where an offensive launched by Moscow on May 10 invaded certain villages.

“The president recently directed his team to ensure that Ukraine is able to use U.S.-supplied weapons for counterfire purposes in the Kharkiv region, so that Ukraine can retaliate against Russian forces that attack or prepare to attack them,” a U.S. official said.

Russia is strengthening its forces near the northern part of the region, but it does not have the troops to carry out a major offensive, Ukraine's commander-in-chief said Thursday.

Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, is 30 kilometers from the border with Russia.

This is the second time this year that Biden has quietly eased his policy on arms supplies to Ukraine, bowing to calls to send long-range missiles known as ATACMS to kyiv.

“The Biden administration has come a long way from hypersensitivity and incomprehension about the risk of escalation,” said Alexander Vindman, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and former director for European affairs at the Security Council. National White House under the Trump administration.

He welcomed Biden's policy shift, which he said “unties Ukraine's hands.”

“Of course it’s the right decision,” Vindman said.

The United States is Ukraine's largest arms supplier in its fight against the full-scale invasion launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin in February 2022.

Officials said U.S. policy would continue to prohibit the Ukrainian military from using ATACMS, which have a range of up to 300 km, and other long-range U.S.-supplied weapons for strikes deep inside Russia.

Biden's decision also does not mean the United States now approves of drone attacks launched by Ukraine against Russian oil facilities, they said.

Some NATO allies and U.S. lawmakers have called on Biden to ease restrictions on U.S. weapons to allow Ukraine to strike missile launchers and other military sites in Russia that support Moscow's advance toward Kharkiv.

Russian jet fighters flying into Russia, out of range of Ukrainian air defenses, supported the offensive by dropping high-precision glide bombs on Ukrainian defense lines and Kharkiv, where they caused numerous civilian casualties.

Putin on Tuesday warned NATO members against allowing Ukraine to fire its weapons on Russia and again raised the risk of nuclear war.

Some experts dismissed his comments as bluster. They noted that Putin has failed to respond to similar threats in the past and has already committed the bulk of his conventional forces to the largest ground war in Europe since World War II.

“I don't think we can or should be intimidated by Vladimir Putin,” said U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Democratic member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “Is he really prepared to risk nuclear war and conflict with NATO?”

Connolly co-signed a May 20 letter with Congressman Michael Turner, Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and other lawmakers urging the Biden administration to allow Ukraine to use U.S. weapons to achieve strategic targets in Russia.

For some time, critics have been urging NATO allies to ease restrictions on the use of their weapons against military targets in Russia. These voices have multiplied within the alliance since Russia launched the Kharkiv offensive.

Countries that have requested easing of restrictions or have done so for their own weapons sent to Ukraine include Britain, the Netherlands, Sweden, the Baltic States, Finland, Denmark, Germany and France.

Biden faced the potentially embarrassing prospect that, as he hosts a NATO summit in July, Russian forces advance on Kharkiv and eastern Ukraine as the alliance celebrates its 75th anniversary, officials said. analysts said.