After years of working to avoid direct conflict with Russia, U.S. officials confirmed this week that our country and allied countries have given approval to Ukraine to use weapons inside Russia.
“This is a big policy shift for the United States, which to date has been concerned about direct escalation with Russia and had put restrictions on how Ukraine uses U.S. provided weapons,” explained Margaret Brennan of CBS’ “Face the Nation” in an interview with Audacy.
Per the Federation of American Scientists, the U.S. and Russia combined have control over 88% of the world’s 12,100 nuclear warheads. While there are risks of the two nations fighting each other, the U.S. has continued to provide aid to Ukraine since Russia launched an illegal invasion of the sovereign nation in early 2022.
“So with regard to the use of U.S. arms by Ukraine and Russia, I said this the other day: 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 when it needs it, to do that deliberately and effectively,” said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken Friday during a speech in Prague, Czechia. “And that’s exactly what we’re doing in response to what we’ve now seen in and around the Kharkiv region.”
He told reporters that Ukraine asked for the authorization to use weapons provided by the U.S. to defend against Russian forces that are massing on the Russian side of the border. Blinken also said that President Joe Biden approved the use of weapons for that purpose.
Brennan said Ukraine was authorized to use the weapons inside Russia as of Thursday. In addition to the U.S., the U.K., France and Germany also signed off on the plan.
“That means Ukraine can hit, for example, Russian artillery pieces, other things being fired at them,” she explained. “They are still restricted from using long range weapons... from firing well into Russian territory.”
With these increased permissions, the U.S. hopes that the balance of power on the battlefield will shift, Brennan added.
“It’s not an overstatement to say that this is a critical moment for transatlantic security,” said Blinken in Prague. “We’ve seen in recent weeks [Russian President Vladimir] Putin ramping up an offensive against Ukraine in Kharkiv in the northeast; Ukrainians continuing to show extraordinary courage in resisting the Russian aggression.”
As Ukraine continues to fight, he noted that The Kremlin has also been intensifying its hybrid attacks against frontline states, including members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. These attacks have included setting fire to and sabotaging supply warehouses, disregarding sea borders and demarcations in the Baltics, cyberattacks and the spread of misinformation.
“More broadly, the stakes couldn’t be higher in this moment,” Blinken continued. “We know that if Russia’s aggression is allowed to proceed in Ukraine with impunity, it will not stop with Ukraine. And other would-be aggressors in other parts of the world will take note and consider pursuing their own aggressions. By continuing to strengthen Ukraine, by continuing to show our determination to make sure that it can effectively defend itself, we’re also strengthening the security of the United States, of Europe, of free countries all around the world.”
Blinken also said that more concrete steps towards making Ukraine a NATO member are expected in the future.