Biden authorizes Ukraine to strike targets in Russia to defend Kharkiv

Joe Biden, who has refused to do so until now, gave his green light for Ukraine to strike under certain conditions targets on Russian soil, in the Kharkiv region, indicated Thursday an American official.

“The president has tasked his team to ensure that Ukraine can use American weapons to counterattack in the Kharkiv region, so as to retaliate when Russian forces attack them or prepare to attack them “, said this source.

This official, who requested anonymity, however added that the United States continued to oppose Ukrainian strikes in depth on Russian territory.

Firefighters in the rubble of a supermarket destroyed by a Russian strike, in Kharkiv, May 26, 2024 in Ukraine © AFP – SERGEY BOBOK

“Our position on prohibiting the use of ATACMS or deep strikes inside Russia has not changed,” he said.

ATACMS are long-range missiles supplied by the Americans to Ukraine, capable of reaching a distance of up to 300 km.

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Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine, is the almost daily target of bombings mainly coming from Russian territory.

Russia launched an offensive in the region in early May, and is gaining ground against a struggling Ukrainian army.

< p>The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken suggested on Wednesday that the United States had changed its position in terms of Ukrainian strikes on Russian soil.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a press conference in Chisinau, May 29, 2024 in Moldova © AFP – Elena COVALENCO

“As conditions have changed, as the battlefield has changed, as Russia has changed the way it conducts its aggression, we have adapted and adjusted and I am confident that we will continue to do so”, he told the press during a visit to Moldova, a country bordering Ukraine.

NATO is pushing Western capitals to lift restrictions that “tie the hands behind the backs of Ukrainians”, in the words of its secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, a position supported by several countries, including France.

The Kremlin, for its part, criticized the Atlantic alliance for launching “a new cycle of escalation”.

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