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President Biden approved Ukraine's military to use U.S.-provided long-range missiles on targets inside Russian territory, the New York Times reported Sunday, citing unnamed U.S. officials.

President Joe Biden's administration will allow Ukraine to use U.S.-provided weapons to strike deep into Russian territory, three sources familiar with the matter said, in a significant change to Washington's policy in the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Ukraine plans to conduct its first long-range attacks in the coming days, the sources said, without revealing details due to operational security concerns. The White House declined to comment. The move by the United States two months before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20 follows months of requests by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to allow Ukraine's military to use U.S. weapons to hit...

The US military’s top commander in Europe compiled a list of weapons systems the US possesses that could help Ukraine in its fight against Russia that the Biden administration has not yet provided, including air-to-surface missiles and a secure communications network used by NATO. In an annex attached to a classified report about the Biden administration’s Ukraine strategy that was delivered to Congress early last month, Gen. Chris Cavoli outlined a list of US capabilities that could help the Ukrainian military fight more effectively, according to people familiar with the report. The list included the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, a...

PRAGUE (AP) – The head of NATO’s military committee said Saturday that Ukraine has the solid legal and military right to strike deep inside Russia to gain combat advantage – reflecting the beliefs of a number of U.S. allies – even as the Biden administration balks at allowing Kyiv to do so using American-made weapons. “Every nation that is attacked has the right to defend itself. And that right doesn´t stop at the border of your own nation,” said Adm. Rob Bauer, speaking at the close of the committee’s annual meeting, also attended by U.S. Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of...

President Putin warns that NATO will enter a direct war with Russia if Ukraine uses long-range Western missiles to strike inside Russia.

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that his administration was "working that out now" when asked if the U.S. would lift restrictions on Ukraine's use of long range weapons in its war against Russia. The U.S. has been reluctant to supply or sanction the use of weapons that could strike targets deep inside in Russia for fear it would escalate the conflict. Kyiv's other allies have been supplying weapons, but with restrictions on how and when they can be used inside Russia, out of concern such strikes could prompt retaliation that draws NATO countries into the war or provokes...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. is close to an agreement to give Ukraine long-range cruise missiles that could reach deep into Russia, but Kyiv would need to wait several months as the U.S. works through technical issues ahead of any shipment, U.S. officials said.The inclusion of Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM) in a weapons package is expected to be announced this autumn, three sources said, though a final decision has not been made. The sources declined to be named because they are not authorized to discuss the topic.Sending JASSMs to Ukraine could significantly alter the strategic landscape of the conflict...

Volodymyr Zelensky has piled pressure on Britain to allow missile strikes deep inside Russia as he claimed his army’s cross-border attack could oust Vladimir Putin.By Monday evening, Ukrainian forces were in control of around 1,000 square kilometres of Kursk, a border region in southern Russia, according to Kyiv’s top general.The stunning cross-border attack marks the first foreign invasion of Russian soil since the Second World War.Mr Zelensky said that the “Kursk disaster” 24 years ago, in which 118 Russian sailors died in a submarine accident, marked the start of Putin’s rule.“And now it is clear this is the end for...

Ukraine is on its way to being able to “stand on its own feet” militarily, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday, noting that more than 20 other countries have pledged to maintain their own military and financial aid to the country even if the U.S. were to withdraw its support under a different president. Blinken for the first time directly addressed the possibility that former President Donald Trump could win the November election and back away from commitments to Ukraine. Trump’s public comments have varied between criticizing U.S. backing for Ukraine’s defense and supporting it, while his running mate,...

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday that the U.S. will soon announce an additional $2.3 billion in security assistance for Ukraine, to include anti-tank weapons, interceptors and munitions for Patriot and other air defense systems. Austin’s remarks came as Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov met with him at the Pentagon. And they mark a strong response to pleas from Kyiv for help in battling Russian forces in the Donetsk region. Austin said the aid will come through presidential drawdown authority, which allows the Pentagon to take the weapons from its stocks and send them more quickly to Ukraine.

The US has agreed to send a second Patriot system to Ukraine, according to reports. Ukraine has been given a handful of the missile systems from its allies, but says it needs more. Patriots help stop Russian attacks, but Ukraine's allies are reluctant to reduce their own arsenals. A second US Patriot system is headed for Ukraine following appeals for further air defenses, according to reports. The MIM-104 Patriot missile system has been hailed as a major success in Ukraine, shooting down Russian missiles and aircraft as Ukraine fights back against Russia's invasion.

President Joe Biden publicly apologized to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday for a congressional holdup over $61 billion in military aid.Observers have said that the delay allowed Russia to make advances in Ukraine.Biden met Zelenskyy in Paris when the apology was made.“I apologize for those weeks of not knowing what’s going to happen in terms of funding,” Biden said, describing the roughly 6 months of debate in Congress over a $61 billion military aid package for Ukraine. “We’re still in. Completely. Thoroughly."Zelenskyy emphasized the importance of unity between the U.S. and Ukraine.“It’s very important that in this unity, United...

Ukraine last night claimed it successfully hit a missile system inside Russia using U.S. weapons. It said the country’s forces destroyed Russian missile launchers with a strike in the Belgorod region. Senior politician Yehor Chernev claimed Ukrainian forces used a High Mobility Rocket Artillery System, or HIMARS, The New York Times reported. It comes just days after the U.S. granted permission for Ukraine to fire American weapons into Russia.

Uh oh…

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Wednesday appeared to back allowing Ukraine to use American-provided weapons to strike Russia or Russian-controlled territory. One reporter asked Johnson about a House Intelligence Committee letter calling on the Biden administration to allow Ukraine to strike Russia with American-supplied weapons. The letter stipulates that this would allow Ukraine to strike “Russian-controlled territory” as well as Russian territory and represents a significant escalation in America’s seemingly endless proxy war against Russia.

The US is "rushing ammunition, armoured vehicles, missiles [and] air defences" to Ukraine's front line, Anthony Blinken has said.During a trip to Ukraine, the US secretary of state announced that $2bn would be spent to speed up delivery. His comments came as Russian advances forced Ukrainian to retreat from several villages in the Kharkiv region. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has cancelled all his foreign trips to concentrate on the new incursion. Speaking in Kyiv on Wednesday, Mr Blinken said weapons would be rushed to the front lines to "protect soldier, to protect citizens". He said that the air defence systems,...

Less than a day before the Biden administration announced its intent to cut off U.S. arms sales to Israel, it issued a sanctions waiver to bypass congressional prohibitions on arms sales to a host of Arab nations that boycott the Jewish state, including Hamas ally Qatar and Iran-controlled Lebanon, the Washington Free Beacon has learned. On Tuesday—just a day before President Joe Biden threatened to withhold key weapons deliveries from Israel if the country moves forward with an incursion in the Gaza Strip's Rafah neighborhood—the State Department informed Congress that it intends to bypass laws that bar the United States...

Russia warned Britain on Monday that if British weapons were used by Ukraine to strike Russian territory then Moscow could hit back at British military installations and equipment both inside Ukraine and elsewhere. Russia said British Ambassador Nigel Casey was summoned to the foreign ministry for a formal protest after Foreign Secretary David Cameron said last week that Ukraine had the right to use British weapons to strike Russia. Russia's foreign ministry said the Cameron remarks recognised that Britain was now de facto a part of the conflict and contradicted an earlier assurance that long-range weapons given to Ukraine would...

The US believes that Russia appears to be gaining momentum in the two-year conflict. They are considering the possibility of sending additional military advisers to the embassy in Kyiv, reports Politico. Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder stated that advisers would not have a combat role but would advise and support the Ukrainian government and armed forces. "Throughout this conflict, the Department of Defense has reviewed and adjusted the U.S. presence in Ukraine as security conditions change. We are currently considering the possibility of sending several additional advisers to enhance the Defense Cooperation Office (ODC) at the embassy," Ryder said...

NATO is debating a plan to provide more predictable military support to Ukraine in coming years as better armed Russian troops assert control on the battlefield, the organization’s top civilian official said Wednesday. “We strongly believe that support to Ukraine should be less dependent on short-term, voluntary offers and more dependent on long-term NATO commitments,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said before chairing a meeting of the alliance’s foreign ministers in Brussels. Earlier on Wednesday, Ukraine lowered the military conscription age from 27 to 25 to help replenish its depleted ranks after more than two years of war. A shortage of...