US President Joe Biden has given the green light for Ukraine to strike targets on Russian soil, near the city of Kharkiv, under certain conditions.
Joe Biden gives the green light. Pressed by several of his allies, the American president authorized, Thursday, May 30, Ukrainian forces to carry out strikes on Russian soil, near Kharkiv, under certain conditions. The first: that these strikes only concern the Kharkiv region, in the northeast of the country. Kharkiv’s geographical location is very close to the Russian border and the Russian army is attacking Ukraine with weapons positioned on its own side of the border.
The second condition: Ukraine cannot strike Russia with all American weapons. “Our position on prohibiting the use of ATACMS or deep strikes inside Russia has not changed,” a US official said. These long-range missiles supplied by the Americans to Ukraine can go up to 300 kilometers away. Joe Biden’s decision marks a turning point. The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken had prepared the ground for such an announcement. “As conditions have changed, as the battlefield has changed, as Russia has changed the way it conducts its aggression, we have adapted and adjusted and I am confident that we will continue to do so,” he said. he clarified. France, like other NATO countries, had insisted on allowing the use of weapons delivered to Ukraine.
A risk of escalation?
Emmanuel Macron had notably supported the possibility that kyiv could “neutralize” the military bases from which Russia fires its missiles against Ukrainian territory. “We must allow them to neutralize the military sites from which the missiles are fired (…) the military sites from which Ukraine is attacked,” declared the French head of state on May 29. “If we tell them, you do not have the right to reach the point from which the missiles are fired, in fact we tell them, we are giving you weapons, but you cannot defend yourself,” he said. he indicated, specifying that he did not want “escalation”. A possibility that several European countries fear. This new use could draw Western countries into full-scale conflict. The Kremlin has already criticized NATO for launching “a new cycle of escalation”.