WASHINGTON: President
Joe Biden
, in a major shift pressed by his advisers and key allies, has authorised
Ukraine
to conduct limited strikes inside
Russia
with American-made weapons, opening what could well be a new chapter in the war for Ukraine, US officials said on Thursday.
Biden's decision appears to mark the first time that an American president has allowed limited military responses on artillery, missile bases and command centres inside the borders of a nuclear-armed adversary.
White House
officials insisted, however, that the authorisation extended only to what they characterised as acts of self-defence, so that Ukraine could protect
Kharkiv
, its second-largest city, and the surrounding areas from missiles, glide bombs and artillery shells from just over the border.
"The president recently directed his team to ensure that Ukraine is able to use US-supplied weapons for counter-fire purposes in the Kharkiv region so Ukraine can hit back against Russian forces that are attacking them or preparing to attack them," a US official said in a statement issued by the administration. "Our policy with respect to prohibiting the use of ATACMS or long-range strikes inside of Russia has not changed," the statement continued, referring to an artillery system, provided to Ukraine, that has the capability to reach deep inside Russian territory.
The decision by Biden was reported earlier Thursday by Politico. American officials said that the change in policy went into effect Thursday.
Though the White House cast the decision as a narrow one, the implications are clearly much broader. Until now, Biden has flatly refused to let Ukraine use American-made weapons outside of Ukrainian borders, no matter what the provocation, saying that any attack on Russian territory risked violating his mandate to "avoid World War III". But having reversed his position, even in limited circumstances, Biden has clearly crossed a red line that he himself drew. And administration officials conceded that if Russia mounted other attacks from inside its territory beyond Kharkiv, the president's restrictions could be subject to further loosening. "This is a new reality," one senior official said, declining to speak on the record, "and perhaps a new era" in the Ukraine conflict.
Ukraine President Zelenskyy hailed the US decision Friday, calling it "a step forward toward (the) goal ... of making it possible to defend our people..."
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