White House lets Ukraine strike inside Russia with U.S. weapons

White House lets Ukraine strike inside Russia with U.S. weapons

a major policy shift President Biden is now allowing Ukraine to use American weapons provided by the US on Russian soil for limited strikes earlier this morning Secretary of State Anthony blinkin addressed the decision during a press conference in Prague the Hallmark of our engagement our support for Ukraine over these more than two years has been to adapt and adjust as necessary to meet what’s actually going on on the battlefield to make sure that Ukraine has what it needs uh when it needs it uh to do that deliberately and effectively Ukraine can use the weapons to Target the Russian side of the border near the besieged city of harke where the Ukrainian Army has been facing growing pressure Holly Williams who’s been reporting on the war since it began has the story President Biden’s given Ukraine the green light to use us supplied weapons to strike inside Russia’s borders we’re always learning and we’re always making determinations about uh what’s necessary to make sure that Ukraine can effectively continue to defend itself and we’ll continue to do that but there are conditions Ukraine’s now permitted to fire American supplied weapons into Russia at forces that are attacking or preparing to attack in the region close to the Ukrainian city of hariv a Us official told CBS s news though that does not extend to attacks us missiles with a range of up to 190 mil still it’s a major shift the US has provided more than $50 billion in military assistance to Ukraine since Russia invaded in 2022 but has previously refused to allow the ukrainians to use American weapons outside its orders worried about escalating the conflict the White House restated that position just 3 days ago we don’t encourage or enable the use of us supplied weapons to strike inside Russia but this month Russia launched a deadly new offensive around hariv raising fears that Ukraine’s second largest city could fall despite the US government’s limited caliber ated approach a senior Russian official responded today saying that NATO countries that Supply longrange weapons to Ukraine are already participating in a war with Russia and he reiterated Russia’s threat to use tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine anarie you know Holly this is a pattern that we’ve seen throughout the entire War Ukraine asks for either more military aid or different types of military aid the US says no no no no no and then after so much time time is lost and humans are lost they relent and so Ukraine has been asking for this for a while and now they’ve been given permission but harke is already devastated how much of an impact can this really have on the front line yeah I mean it’s an interesting question anarie you know since the earliest days of the war in Ukraine there actually have been strikes inside Russian territory and acts of sabotage on on Russian infrastructure that have been pretty widely attributed to Ukraine we’ve also filmed with an armed Russian dissident group um that uh is based in Ukraine uh with the permission of Ukrainian authorities and that launched armed attacks into Russian territory but now the ukrainians have you know the blessing of the US it’s a limited blessing but nevertheless the green light to go ahead and use us supplied weapons inside Russian territory it follows on from earlier this month when the UK’s foreign secretary said it was quote up to Ukraine to decide how it uses British weapons and then today Germany came out and said that it will give Ukraine permission to use its weapons uh against targets inside Russia so this is a really important change it allows Ukraine to use uh better more powerful weapons against Russian forces uh on Russian soil but the big question is whether this will successfully slow or even stop this new Russian effect offensive that is around the Ukraine ukan city city of harv which is Ukraine’s second largest city all right Holly Williams thank you so much

President Biden is now allowing Ukraine to use weapons provided by the U.S. on Russian soil for limited strikes near the besieged city of Kharkiv, where the Ukrainian army has been facing growing pressure. CBS News senior foreign correspondent Holly Williams, who’s been reporting on the war since it began, has the latest.

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