Washington has not authorized Ukraine to use US-supplied missiles to attack targets deep inside Russia, including Moscow, President Joe Biden has said. His comments come after the US permitted Kiev to carry out cross-border strikes on Russian soil using American-made weapons.
In an interview with ABC News on Thursday, Biden confirmed that Ukraine is allowed to use US-made weapons for strikes inside Russia, but claimed Kiev can launch them “only in proximity to the border when they [Russian weapons] are being used on the other side of the border to attack specific targets in Ukraine.”
“We’re not authorizing strikes 200 miles into Russia and we’re not authorizing strikes on Moscow, on the Kremlin,” Biden stressed.
Russia has already accused Ukraine of attempting to attack the Kremlin last May. At the time, Russian officials claimed that two Ukrainian drones had been neutralized in the heart of Moscow, adding that the unsuccessful attack was interpreted as an “assassination attempt” on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Biden confirmed in the interview that he is concerned about Putin’s response to the shift in US policy on cross-border strikes. The Russian president earlier called the decision a confirmation of Western nations’ “direct participation in the war”
“I’ve known him for over 40 years. He’s concerned me for 40 years,” the American president said, proceeding to label his Russian counterpart “a dictator” and “not a decent man.” Biden has insulted Putin on several occasions before, with the jabs denounced by the Kremlin as “shameful.”
The US decision to allow Ukraine to conduct “limited” strikes into Russia was reported by several Western media outlets last week and was later confirmed by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. It came on the heels of the Russian offensive in the border Kharkov Region, which has resulted in Kiev’s troops being pushed back, as well as reported concerns in the White House that Moscow might capture Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkov.
On Wednesday, Putin condemned the US and other NATO members for supplying Ukraine with long-range missiles that could be used for strikes deep into Russian territory, warning that the move marks a significant escalation in the conflict and could backfire on the West.
In particular, he suggested that Moscow could opt for an “asymmetric” response and send similar weapons to parts of the world where they could be used against sensitive sites of the countries supporting Ukraine.