Ukraine has carte blanche to attack Russia anywhere on the front line using American weapons

Washington has authorized kyiv to use U.S.-supplied weapons to strike military targets anywhere on the front line, Politico reported Thursday, citing national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

The revised policy no longer limits Ukrainian armed forces to attacking Russia across the front line with its Kharkiv region, extending this to “wherever Russian forces cross the border from the Russian side to the Ukrainian side in an attempt to conquer territory.” additional Ukrainian territory. “said Politico.

“It’s not a question of geography. It is a matter of common sense. If Russia attacks or is about to attack Ukraine from its territory, it makes sense to allow Ukraine to retaliate against forces that strike it from across the border,” Sullivan said.

While Sullivan stressed that this was not a policy change, Politico observed that it was significantly different from what U.S. officials said in May, when Ukraine was barred from using the weapons. American only for counter-fire purposes in Kharkiv, in the east of the country. .

The policy of prohibiting long-range strikes in Russia “has not changed,” an unnamed U.S. official told Politico.

This is the second major revision of US policy in this area this year, after the United States reversed its ban on Ukraine using US-supplied weapons for purposes other than defense, after Russia intensified its attacks along the border with the Kharkiv region in May.