Biden lets Ukraine strike Russia with American weapons

President Joe Biden secretly authorized Ukraine to use U.S. weapons to strike inside Russia, two U.S. officials said Thursday, a turnaround that Kiev’s allies hope will help turn the tide of the war .

Although extremely symbolic and welcomed by Ukraine, the decision only applies to certain weapons supplied by the United States, and in only one area: the northeastern Kharkiv region, where Russia launched a large cross-border attack three weeks ago, U.S. officials said. under condition of anonymity.

Ukraine will be allowed to use certain types of weapons to strike Russian forces preparing to attack just across the border, a U.S. official told NBC News. But Ukraine will still be prohibited from using longer-range weapons – like the vaunted long-range ATACMS – to strike deeper into Russia.

Politico was first to report the decision.

The question of whether to allow Ukraine to use Western weapons to strike inside Russia has become a point of division with its allies and a source of angst for kyiv itself.

The United States was the only holdout, resisting pressure from European officials to give Ukraine more leeway to attack Russian soil.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg is also among those calling for Ukraine to be allowed to use Western-supplied weapons to strike targets in Russia. French President Emmanuel Macron joined the initiative earlier this week and Germany confirmed on Friday that it would join the United States in softening its stance.

Like all its allies, Washington is trying to balance its support for Ukraine while avoiding giving the impression that it is indirectly attacking Russia – a common Kremlin allegation. President Vladimir Putin has the world’s largest nuclear arsenal and has explicitly warned Western powers that their intervention could trigger World War III.

The debate has also been a source of strong complaints from kyiv, which has recently suffered battlefield setbacks against a resurgent Russian army.

Biden’s reversal has already been criticized by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as too little, too late – and costing Ukrainian lives.

The president’s spokesperson confirmed and welcomed the change in US policy. “This will significantly strengthen our ability to counter Russian attempts to massively cross the border,” Serhii Nykyforov told NBC News on Friday.

But Zelensky himself was less welcoming, saying in an interview with The Guardian newspaper that Washington’s delay in approving the decision had cost lives. He called on the United States to authorize the use of long-range weapons to strike deeper into Russia.

“I think it is absolutely illogical to have weapons and see the murderers, the terrorists, who are killing us on the Russian side,” he told the Guardian. “I think sometimes they just make fun of this situation,” he said of Russia. forces. “It’s like going hunting for them. Looking for people. They understand that we can see them, but we cannot reach them.

It’s this dynamic — Ukraine being able to see Russian forces across the border ready to attack, but without preemptively striking them — that has changed the thinking of Biden officials behind the scenes , a US official told NBC News.

Three days after the Russian assault on Kharkiv on May 10, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Charles Q. Brown, Jr. held a video call with Ukrainian officials, who requested that they be allowed to attack the forces. across the Russian border, the U.S. official said.

Two days later, on May 15, Sullivan presented the proposal to the president, saying it made sense that Ukraine would be able to repel Russian attacks by missiles, troops and bombers before they crossed the border, the official said.

After several other meetings, including with Blinken who had recently visited kyiv, the decision was signed and came into effect on Thursday, the official added.