US officials say President Joe Biden has lifted restrictions on Ukraine using weapons supplied by the United States against targets on Russian territory, but only to defend the Kharkiv region BRADFORD, England: When missiles fired from Ukraine destroyed a S-300/400 air defence battery on Russian territory over the weekend of Jun 1 and 2, it immediately gave rise to speculation that the missiles were from United States' high mobility artillery rocket systems,...
This was because of the very real fear in the West that Putin would use it as an excuse to escalate hostilities - particularly against the North Atlantic Treaty Organization member states with which Russia shares a border. Ukraine was trying to hold Russia in check to use various means of its own to attack some key targets on Russian territory. In particular, Ukraine has launched drone attacks on targets in Moscow and some of its oil refineries. Kyiv also had some success in targeting naval installations in Crimea.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had pleaded with Washington to relax its restrictions. The United Kingdom, France and Germany all indicated they were willing to do so. And the NATO secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, made it clear that in his view Ukraine had the right to hit legitimate targets in Russia using any weapons at its disposal. But still Washington held out.
As the New York Times recounted, he told journalists: “The aerial dynamic’s a little bit different … And so - but again, don’t - don’t want to speculate on any - any one or - or any type of engagement here at the podium, so…” When pressed, according to the New York Times, Austin did not respond.