KHARKIV, Ukraine — A new U.S. policy allowing Ukraine to fire certain American weapons at Russian territory has led to a reduction in some Russian attacks but still restricts the range enough that it prevents Ukraine from hitting key airfields, two Ukrainian officials said. Those airfields are used by Russian jets that drop the deadly glide bombs now inflicting the greatest damage on military positions and civilians.
The Ukrainian officials said the United States has restricted Ukraine to firing less than 100 kilometers, or about 62 miles, from the border. Both spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the rule. U.S. officials declined to specify the limitation but said the Ukrainians’ assertion of less than 100 kilometers was incorrect.
“The U.S. has agreed to allow Ukraine to fire U.S.-provided weapons into Russia across where Russian forces are coming to attempt to take Ukrainian territory,” said a Pentagon spokesman, Maj. Charlie Dietz. “This is not about geography or a certain radius, but if Russia is attacking or about to attack from its territory into Ukraine, Ukraine has the ability to hit back against the forces that are hitting it from across the border.”
Ukraine is also permitted to use U.S.-supplied air defense systems to strike Russian planes “if they’re about to fire into Ukrainian airspace,” Dietz said.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan emphasized the point in an interview on PBS, saying: “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.”
While officials in Kyiv do not want to be seen as publicly contradicting their American counterparts, it is clear that the Ukrainian military does not believe it has as much latitude as the statements from White House and Pentagon officials seem to suggest.
And the results of Ukrainian strikes in the three weeks since Washington approved Ukraine’s request to use certain Western weapons to hit Russian territory corroborate the Ukrainian description of a significantly restrictive range.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think tank, reported this month that the U.S. policy limiting Ukraine’s usage of American weapons in Russia had effectively created “a vast sanctuary … which Russia exploits to shield its combat forces, command and control, logistics, and rear area support services that the Russian military uses to conduct its military operations in Ukraine.”
One Ukrainian defense official said that permission to use U.S. weapons to strike inside Russia “has definitely changed things. The enemy has certainly felt it, especially directly on the front line.”
But the official added, “Neither the range nor the category [of weapons] is sufficient.”
In its report, the ISW said the easing of U.S. restrictions in areas close to Kharkiv had reduced Russia’s “ground sanctuary” — the area still out of Ukraine’s reach with U.S.