WASHINGTON/PRAGUE, May 30 (Reuters) – President Joe Biden has quietly authorized Kyiv to launch U.S.-supplied weapons at military targets inside Russia that are supporting an offensive against the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, four U.S. officials said on Thursday.
The decision marks a policy shift by Biden, who had steadfastly refused to allow Ukraine to use American weaponry for strikes inside Russia.
Russia’s embassy in Washington and Russia’s mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Biden’s decision applies only to targets inside Russia near the border with the Kharkiv region, where an offensive launched by Moscow on May 10 has overrun some villages.
“The President recently directed his team to ensure that Ukraine is able to use U.S.-supplied weapons for counter-fire purposes in the Kharkiv region so Ukraine can hit back against Russian forces that are attacking them or preparing to attack them,” said one U.S. official.
Russia is building up forces near the northern part of the region, but it lacks the troop numbers to stage a major push, Ukraine’s top commander said on Thursday.
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, is 19 miles (30 km) from the border with Russia.
It is the second time this year that Biden has quietly relaxed his policy on weapons supplies for Ukraine, bending to calls to send long-range missiles known as ATACMS to Kyiv
“The Biden administration has come a long way from their hypersensitivity to and misunderstanding of the risk of escalation,” said Alexander Vindman, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and former director for European affairs at the White House National Security Council under the Trump administration.
He applauded the shift in Biden’s policy, which he said “unties Ukraine’s hands.”
