The US President Joe Biden has authorized Kyiv to hit targets inside Russia using US-supplied long-range missiles, a major shift of policy on the Ukraine crisis in his administration, American media reported.
The greenlight would enable the first-ever application by Ukrainian troops of Western-made ATACMS missiles, reports Xinhua, quoting US media outlets including The Associated Press, The New York Times and The Washington Post, quoting two anonymous US officials.
The White House or the Pentagon has yet to confirm the decision.
The Biden administration has permitted Kyiv to use HIMARS, a US-developed light multiple rocket launcher with a range of about 50 miles (80.5 km), for cross-border attacks in Russia to defend the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and the surrounding region since May when Russian forces began an offensive there.
The government, however, had already decided not to allow Ukraine to employ the longer-range ATACMS within Russia as it foresaw a drastic escalation of the war. The range of an ATACMS is about 190 miles or 305.8 km.
US officials said they don't foresee the shift of the policy will change "fundamentally the course" of the conflict, The New York Times reported, adding that Biden may authorize Kyiv to use the weapons elsewhere beyond Kursk.
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