White House at last gives permission for strikes deep in Russia


(MENAFN) The White House officially confirmed on Monday a shift in policy, allowing Ukraine to use US-supplied ATACMS missiles for strikes deep inside Russian territory. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby explained that the US had changed its guidance to allow Ukraine to deploy these long-range missiles in immediate defense situations. He specifically referred to Ukrainian attacks in and around the Russian regions of Bryansk and Kursk.

This decision follows several previous missile strikes by Ukraine, including one on Bryansk last week. While the US has increasingly supplied Ukraine with advanced weaponry since 2022, it has maintained that these supplies do not constitute direct NATO involvement in the conflict. However, Moscow has repeatedly warned that the use of such long-range weapons, including the ATACMS and the UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles, would change the nature of the hostilities and effectively make NATO a direct participant in the war.

In response to these developments, Russia launched a test of its new hypersonic ballistic missile, the Oreshnik, targeting Ukraine’s Yuzhmash military-industrial complex in Dnepropetrovsk. Russian President Vladimir Putin referred to the missile test as a "combat test," signaling that more such tests could follow, depending on the situation.

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