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US President Joe Biden secretly gave Ukraine permission to strike inside Russia’s borders using US weapons.
Biden gave permission to use American weapons to strike Russia specifically and only close to Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city near Ukraine’s northeastern border with its larger neighbor.
“The president recently directed his team to ensure that Ukraine is able to use US weapons for counter-fire purposes in Kharkiv so Ukraine can hit back at Russian forces hitting them or preparing to hit them,” a US official said, according to Politico. They added that US policy on longer range strikes inside Russia “has not changed.”
The official said Ukraine requested this limited change in policy after Russia began its offensive on Kharkiv earlier this month. A second official said the US made the decision in the last few days to allow Ukraine to be more flexible in how it defends itself from attacks close to the border.
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