President Joe Biden will allow Ukraine to use U.S. weapons to strike within Russia to defend the area around the war-torn city of Kharkiv, multiple outlets reported Thursday, a major exemption to the administration’s steadfast objection to strikes inside Russia, as Ukrainian troops struggle to repel Russian advances.
President Joe Biden will allow Ukrainian troops to use U.S. weapons inside Russia to defend Kharkiv.
The Biden administration’s approval applies exclusively to the area around Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, according to unnamed U.S. officials who spoke to the Associated Press and Politico.
Under the order, Ukrainian troops will be able to use weapons sent from the U.S. “for counter-fire purposes” in the region to “hit back at Russian forces hitting them or preparing to hit them,” a U.S. official told Politico.
Ukraine is still not allowed to use long-range weapons to strike other parts of Russia, officials said.
Kharkiv, in northeastern Ukraine near the border of Russia, has become one of several focal points in Russia’s two-plus-year invasion of Ukraine, with Russian forces advancing on the city for weeks and Ukrainian officials redeploying troops to villages around Kharkiv.
The reports come just over a month after Biden signed a major foreign aid package providing $61 billion in assistance for Ukraine, as well as $26 billion to support military aid for Israel and humanitarian aid for Gaza, after a tumultuous round of negotiations in Congress, overcoming adamant opposition from hard-right Republicans. The Biden administration said earlier this month it would supply another $2 billion in military aid to Ukraine, as Russia continues to make advances.