The US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols confirmed that President Joe Biden allowed Ukraine to fire American missiles deep into Russia.
Nichols said this in an interview with the Brazilian newspaper O Globo on the sidelines of the G20 summit.
"The weapons that President Biden has allowed Ukraine to use will give it more power to defend itself," Brian Nichols said.
He added that the permission to fire missiles deep into Russia may show that the use of force to capture the territory of Ukraine is not successful." Nichols suggests that the Russian Federation may then start negotiating for peace or "leave the territory of Ukraine."
This is the first confirmation of permission to strike from the American side. Earlier, Bidenʼs deputy national security adviser Jonathan Feiner said that he does not confirm any decisions that "have been or have not been made regarding US assistance when it comes to these operational issues."
What preceded
Ukraine has long asked its allies to allow their weapons to be used for long-range strikes deep into Russia. For such purposes, Ukraineʼs arsenal includes, in particular, American ATACMS surface-to-surface long-range missiles and British Storm Shadow long-range missiles.
The NYT newspaper was the first to report on the permission to beat ATACMS on the territory of Russia. She wrote that this was Joe Bidenʼs response to Russiaʼs decision to send North Korean troops into battle — but did not specify whether the permission would apply only to the Kursk region. The publication Axios writes that long-range ATACMS were allowed to strike only in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation.
The High Representative of the EU for foreign policy Josep Borrell confirmed that the USA allowed Ukraine to strike on the territory of Russia to a depth of up to 300 kilometers.
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