The U.S. has told Ukraine it can use U.S.-supplied weapons to target any Russian forces attacking from across the border — and not just those in the region near Kharkiv, according to U.S. officials.
The subtle shift in messaging — which officials insist is not a change in policy — comes just weeks after the U.S. quietly gave the green light to Kyiv attack inside Russia in response to a cross-border attack on the city of Kharkiv. At the time, US authorities stressed that the policy was limited to the Kharkiv region, among other restrictions.
Since then, Ukrainian forces have used American weapons to attack Russia at least once, destroying targets in the city of Belgorod, and managed to contain the Russian attack. But Ukrainian and other European authorities pressured the US to further loosen its restrictions, allowing Ukraine to attack anywhere within Russia.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told PBS on Tuesday that the agreement with Ukraine on firing American weapons at Russia extends to “anywhere Russian forces are crossing the border from the Russian side to the Ukrainian side to try to seize additional Ukrainian territory.”
Russia has indicated in recent days that it may soon advance on the northeastern city of Sumy, which is also close to the Russian border. If that happens, the policy would apply there as well, Sullivan said.
“It’s not about geography. It’s a question of common sense. If Russia is attacking or is about to attack Ukraine from its territory, it only makes sense to allow Ukraine to fight back against the forces attacking it from across the border,” Sullivan said.
Two U.S. officials, granted anonymity to speak openly about the discussions, maintained that allowing Ukraine to reach inside Russia in response to counterfire coming from anywhere across the border does not constitute a policy change since the Kharkiv decision was made. Originally, the measure was characterized only in the context of the ongoing attack in Kharkiv, but this did not exclude the possibility of countering other cross-border attacks, one of the officials said.
Still, Sullivan’s language is markedly different from what U.S. officials said in May, when the new policy was detailed. At the time, a senior US official said: “The president recently instructed his team to ensure that Ukraine is able to use US weapons for counterfire purposes in Kharkiv so that Ukraine can strike back at Russian forces attacking them. attack or prepare to attack them.”
The policy of not allowing long-range attacks inside Russia “has not changed”, the official stressed.
