US confirms authorizing Ukraine to use ATACMS against Russia
'Right now, they are able to use ATACMS to defend themselves in an immediate-need basis,' John Kirby says
WASHINGTON
The White House for the first time on Monday publicly acknowledged easing restrictions over Ukraine's use US-supplied longer-range missiles, allowing Kyiv's forces to strike targets deeper inside Russia.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Washington "did change the guidance" over Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles, "and we gave them guidance that they could use them to strike these particular types of targets."
"Right now, they are able to use ATACMS to defend themselves in an immediate-need basis. And right now, understandably, that's taken place in around Kursk, in the Kursk Oblast," he told reporters, referring to the Russian territory Ukrainian forces have been operating in since August.
"I'd let the Ukrainians speak to their use of ATACMS, and their targeting procedures, and what they're using them for, and how well they're doing," he added.
Ukraine attacked Russia's Bryansk region with six US-made ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles last Tuesday, and the next day it used British Storm Shadow and US HIMARS systems to hit targets in the Kursk region.
In Kursk, the attack targeted a Russian command post, resulting in casualties.
Putin, in a televised address on Thursday, said in response to the US and its NATO allies' authorization of the use of their long-range high-precision weapons for strikes inside Russia, Moscow struck a missile factory in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro with a non-nuclear hypersonic ballistic missile known as an Oreshnik.
Last week, the Biden administration declined to comment on any changes to authorities it granted to Ukraine.
Washington had previously delivered ATACMS to Kyiv, but prevented the Ukrainian military from using them to strike targets deep inside Russia.
As Russia pounded the Ukrainian border city of Kharkiv in May, US President Joe Biden authorized Ukraine to carry out strikes within Russian territory, a first during the course of the over two-year war, to prevent attacks emanating from near the Russia-Ukraine border.
