Joe Biden’s Government has given permission to Ukrainefor attack Russian territory with weapons provided by the United Statesas Kyiv had been demanding, but only near Kharkiv areawhere Moscow is focusing its offensive in recent weeks.

This has been confirmed by US officials to the country’s media and to Efe. “The president recently directed his team to ensure that Ukraine can use weapons supplied by the US for counterattack purposes in the Kharkiv region, so that Ukraine can counterattack the Russian forces that are attacking them or preparing to attack them,” one of them told the agency.

However, said source consulted by Efe adds that the policy regarding the ban on the use of ballistic missiles ATACMS or long-range strikes inside Russia “has not changed.”

With this decision, the Administration Biden gives in to Ukraine’s requestwho has been asking Washington for this policy change for weeks, especially since the Russian offensive against Kharkiv began this month.

Therefore, Ukraine can now use weapons provided by the United States, such as rockets and rocket launchers, to shoot down Russian missiles launched towards this area against troops that are concentrated just on the other side of the Russian border or against Russian bombers that are dropping bombs towards Ukrainian territory. However, cannot use them to attack civilian infrastructure or launch long-range missilessuch as the Army Tactical Missile System, to hit military targets in central Russia.

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken became the first US official to publicly suggest that Biden could change course and allow such attacks and conveyed to the press that policy towards Ukraine would evolve as necessary. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby later did not rule out a possible change.

Debate among allies over the use of Western weapons against Russia

These messages arrived after the main allies of the United States, such as United Kingdom and Francesaid that Ukraine should have the right to attack inside Russia using Western weapons.

In this context, Russia has accused NATO of opening a new phase of tension in their stormy relations by encouraging Ukrainian attacks against targets in Russian territory with Western weapons, a position in which there is no unanimity in the allied bloc.

“In recent days and weeks NATO members, especially the United States and other European countries, have entered a new phase of escalation of tensions. And they do it consciously,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov.

In recent days, the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenbergurged to give the green light to Kyiv, a call that was seconded this week by France. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyconsiders it “unfair” not to be able to use Western weapons to respond to Russia, but the Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo, already told him this week that the F-16 fighter jets that he will deliver to him cannot be used in the country. neighbor.