(CN) — After long hesitation over fears of the Kremlin's response, both Washington and Berlin on Friday approved allowing Ukraine to use Western-supplied weapons to strike inside Russia.
This change in policy by NATO leaders signals a significant escalation in the war with Russia, which has warned it would see such attacks as directed by the West and that they'd possibly prompt the Kremlin to retaliate against American and European targets in Europe and even around the world.
With Ukrainian forces slowly retreating on the front lines and Russia launching an attack on Kharkiv, pressure had been building on U.S. President Joe Biden to approve allowing hits inside Russia.
This week, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg argued Ukraine had a right to strike inside Russia to defend itself. Several NATO allies joined that call.
For now, it appears the White House wants to limit the Kremlin's reaction by saying the strikes inside Russia will be limited to border areas near Kharkiv, where Russian troops and equipment are amassing. The White House said ammunition depots, logistical hubs and other military targets across the border in western Russia are legitimate targets.
However, the White House said it was not ready to allow Ukraine to use its ATACMS missiles to hit inside Russia. These rockets — the most powerful yet sent to Kyiv — can hit targets up to 200 miles away.
U.S. media reports on Thursday announced the shift in policy. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed the approval during a visit to Prague.
On Friday, Germany also said it would allow its missiles to be used for strikes inside Russia. Berlin has refused to send Kyiv its powerful Taurus cruise missiles out of fear of escalating the war but has delivered other weapons with the potential to hit inside Russia, including self-propelled howitzers and Mars II rocket launchers.
For more than a year, Ukraine has been shooting short-range artillery rockets into Russia's border region of Belgorod. The country routinely hit Belgorod, a city lying close to the border with Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city. Ukrainian forces also have launched cross-border raids and temporarily seized villages.
Citing the need to create what he called a “security zone” against Ukraine's attacks against Belgorod, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade Kharkiv more than two weeks ago.
Since then, Russia has made significant gains and opened a new front in the war, drawing Ukrainian troops away from the front lines in the Donbass, long the battlefield with the heaviest fighting.
The West's approval of the use of sophisticated missiles against targets inside Russia carries both significant risks and advantages for Kyiv and its Western backers.
On Tuesday during a visit to Uzbekistan, Putin charged that highly skilled NATO forces would be required to guide Western-made long-range satellite-guided missiles strikes inside Russia.
“The mission is put together by representatives of NATO countries, not the Ukrainian military,” he said. “This unending escalation can lead to serious consequences.”
On Friday, Blinken said the White House's approval came after Ukraine asked for it following Russia's Kharkiv advance.
“Over the past few weeks, Ukraine came to us and asked for the authorization to use weapons that were provided to defend against this aggression, including against Russian forces that are massing on the Russian side of the border,” Blinken said during a news conference, as reported by CNN.
Asked if the White House might allow Ukraine to strike further into Russia, Blinken said the U.S. would continue to adapt and adjust moving forward.
“We want to make sure that we’re proceeding deliberately, as well as effectively,” he said.
On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron said he was also in favor of letting Ukraine strike targets inside Russia with Western-made missiles.
“Ukrainian soil is being attacked from bases in Russia,” Macron said during a visit to Germany. “We think that we should allow them to neutralize the military sites from which the missiles are fired and, basically, the military sites from which Ukraine is attacked.”
Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.
Follow @cainburdeau
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