US President Joe Biden has given Ukraine the go-ahead to hit back at Russia by using American weapons, top US officials say.
Ukraine has been constantly calling for additional support from the West with Biden finally responding with a partial change to US policy in a move that is all but certain to anger an already paranoid Vladimir Putin.
The major shake up comes as Russia continues to attack Ukraine’s second largest city of Kharkiv as they look to seize more Ukrainian territory.
Biden’s secretive decision means US weapons can now be used by Ukraine for “counter-fire purposes” on their aggressors.
One of the three sources who announced the lifting of the ban said it will allow Ukraine to “hit back at Russian forces hitting them or preparing to hit them.”
The second anonymous source said Ukraine has been granted the “flexibility” to defend itself.
The move is set to help Ukraine bite back in Kharkiv as they try to push back Putin’s soldiers.
Ukraine is thought to be looking to use US weapons, such as rockets, to blast Putin’s missiles and drones out of the sky to spare Kharkiv.
I believe that time has come to reconsider some of these restrictions to enable the Ukrainians to really defend themselves
Jens StoltenbergNato Chief
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been increasingly vocal about his troops getting additional support from the West.
Putin has been accused of exploiting the delay in fresh overseas military aid to Ukraine to step up his attacks in the besieged city.
Leaving Ukraine severely under prepared on the frontlines.
Despite the predicted new ruling, officials have maintained their stance that US weapons shouldn’t be offensively used against Russia.
Meaning Ukraine isn’t allowed to attack Russian civilian infrastructure with any US supplied weapons.
The officials say the decision was all down to President Biden.
Biden was thought to be against allowing Ukraine to deal deadly blows with US weapons due to past comments declaring any such actions could be viewed as provocative to the Kremlin.
The US government has tried to stay as neutral as possible so far as to not anger Putin and cause a further escalation of war.
Biden’s Administration has also previously urged Ukraine to stop targeting Russian oil refineries warning strikes “risk driving up global oil prices and provoking retaliation”.
Ukraine has struck at least half of Russia’s 30 major refineries since January as the blasts cause great fires to break out and further humiliate Putin and his cronies.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said recently: “As the conditions have changed, as the battlefield has changed, as what Russia does has changed in terms of how its pursuing its aggression and escalation, we’ve adapted and adjusted too.
“I’m confident we’ll continue to do that.”
It comes as Putin threatened all-out war earlier this week if Ukraine was to use weapons supplied by the West.
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