Biden tip-toes deeper into Ukraine conflict with arms decision

President Joe Biden’s decision to relax some restrictions on Ukraine’s use of U.S. weaponry inside Russia is a small but significant step deeper into the two-year-old war that experts say could help blunt Russia’s cross-border Kharkiv offensive.
Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Biden’s administration had argued it was too risky to allow Ukraine to strike targets on Russia territory with U.S.-supplied weapons. It feared a major Ukrainian attack could trigger direct conflict with nuclear-armed Russia.
It was a rule that fit neatly with other U.S. prohibitions on supplying higher-end weaponry to Kyiv that have also since crumbled, from advanced U.S. fighter jets to long-range ATACM missiles.
Biden administration officials say the latest decision, which went into effect on Thursday, was narrowly tailored to the battle in the Kharkiv region. U.S. officials say it allows Kyiv to use U.S.-supplied weapons to fire back against Russian forces “attacking them or preparing to attack them” from across the
border.