US limits on Ukraine strikes into Russia may ‘evolve’ – White House

Kiev has been demanding Washington’s permission for long-range attacks

While Ukraine is currently not allowed to use American-supplied weapons for long-range strikes into Russian territory, this might change in the future, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has said.

Sullivan spoke on Friday at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado. Asked whether Washington was open to relaxing the “extreme limitations” on Ukraine’s use of US weapons, he would not rule anything out.

“As the war has evolved, our support has evolved,” Sullivan said. “I can’t give a definitive answer to that question for the future.”

The White House reportedly gave Kiev permission to use some of the American missiles to attack military targets across the border from Kharkov Region in late May. 

“Circumstances changed. Russia actually launched a new offensive directly across the border towards Kharkov, and common sense dictated that Ukraine had to be able to fire back against that offensive,” Sullivan explained.

Read more West giving Ukraine ‘positive signals’ on strikes deep inside Russia – Zelensky

However, he added, President Joe Biden’s “policy on long-range strikes into Russia has not changed thus far.”

Asked the same question earlier in the day, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there is an “ongoing conversation” in Washington about relaxing the restrictions on Kiev, offering no more details.

Vladimir Zelensky has slammed the Western limitations as “crazy,” claiming Ukraine should be able to strike anywhere in Russia. 

“We have allowed Zelensky to use American weapons in the near border regions of Russia. If he had the opportunity to strike Moscow, strike the Kremlin, would that make sense? No, it wouldn’t,” Biden said last week at a press briefing in Washington.

Read more West close to allowing strikes deep inside Russia – Zelensky aide

In late June, a US-supplied ATACMS missile dropped cluster munitions on a beach near Sevastopol in Crimea, killing at least four people, including two children, and injuring more than 150. Russia said it would hold the US directly responsible for the “premeditated terrorist” attack.

President Vladimir Putin has described Ukrainian attacks inside Russian territory using Western-supplied weapons as “close to aggression.” He has also warned that Moscow might engage in an asymmetrical response, arming states or groups hostile to the US with advanced weaponry.