WASHINGTON – Press reports indicate that the Biden administration will allow Ukraine to “use U.S.-supplied weapons for counter-fire purposes in the Kharkiv region so Ukraine can hit back against Russian forces that are attacking them or preparing to attack them.”

The Biden administration had prohibited Ukraine from using U.S.-provided weapons to strike any targets inside Russia, including troop formations and firing positions right over the border. U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the highest-ranking Republican on the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, released the following statement in response this partial policy shift:

“Ukraine can’t win this war with one hand tied behind its back. The Russian mainland – including just steps across the border – must not remain a total sanctuary to continue its unprovoked and illegal war. It’s about time Biden administration joined our allies in Britain, France, and even Germany in allowing Ukraine to hit back. The Administration should abandon its ‘drip-drip-drip’ policies and embrace my mantra of ‘more, better, and faster’ to arming Ukraine.”

A May 15 Wall Street Journal report suggested that it is increasingly expert consensus that the use of Army Tactical Missile Systems on Ukraine’s northern front near Kharkiv would enable deadly strikes on “command posts, ammunition depots, air fields, and other logistics centers inside of Russia.”

In the same article, one Ukrainian soldier described the coming fight for the city of Vovchansk in the region as “another Bahkmut” waiting to happen.

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