U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, during an interview with PBS NewsHour’s Nick Schifrin broadcast on June 17 but recorded in Switzerland the day before, said that the U.S. agreement to allow Ukraine to attack targets in Russia with U.S.-supplied weapons, applies anywhere Russian forces are attacking into Ukraine. “It extends to anywhere that Russian forces are coming across the border from the Russian side to the Ukrainian side to try to take additional Ukrainian territory,” he said.
When Schifrin asked if that included the Sumy region, Sullivan replied: “We have seen initial indications that Russia has made exploratory moves across in Sumy. And so it would apply there as well. This is not about geography. It’s about common sense. If Russia is attacking or about to attack from its territory into Ukraine, it only makes sense to allow Ukraine to hit back against the forces that are hitting it from across the border.”
