Secretary of State Tony Blinken, speaking to reporters today at the conclusion of a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Prague, confirmed a story in Politico reporting that President Joe Biden secretly gave Ukraine permission to strike targets inside Russia with U.S.-supplied weapons. “Over the past few weeks Ukraine came to us and asked for the authorization to use weapons that we’re providing to defend against this aggression, including against Russian forces that are massing on the Russian side of the border, and then attacking into Ukraine,” Blinken said in response to a reporter’s question. “And that went right to the President, and as you heard, he’s approved the use of our weapons for that purpose. Going forward, we’ll continue to do what we’ve been doing, which is, as necessary, adapt and adjust. And that, as I said, has been a hallmark of our engagement; it will continue to be.”
Supposedly, Biden’s permission is strictly limited to Russian troop deployments and supply lines just across the border from Kharkiv, and to Russian bombers launching weapons from Russian airspace. An unnamed official told Politico that Ukraine cannot use those weapons to hit civilian infrastructure, or launch long-range missiles, such as the Army Tactical Missile System, to hit military targets deep inside Russia. “It’s a stunning shift the administration initially said would escalate the war by more directly involving the U.S. in the fight,” Politico reports. “But worsening conditions for Ukraine on the battlefield—namely Russia’s advances and improved position in Kharkiv—led the President to change his mind.” In other words, the U.S. is escalating because the Kiev regime is losing the war on the ground.
Earlier, Politico reported that a U.S. military officials told members of Congress, in a closed-door meeting, that the U.S. military sees “value” in striking targets inside Russia. The vice director of operations for the Pentagon’s Joint Staff, Rear Adm. Paul Spedero, said the military believed there would be “military value in striking legitimate targets in Russia,” according to one of the attendees. DOD’s top official in charge of international security affairs, Celeste Wallander, told lawmakers there was no discussion about changing the policy at that time, the attendee said. These statements apparently came in response to lawmakers pressuring the officials to loosen restrictions on U.S. weapons supplied to the Kiev regime.
