Kiev wants Washington’s approval to strike deep into Russia at distances of 100-150 kilometers with long-range missiles. Ukrainian command representatives claim that without that capability their "hands are tied."
The report states that Kiev believes only “desperate battlefield conditions” could force the American side to lift the restriction.
A State Department representative recently told Sputnik that US President Joe Biden had allowed Ukraine to use US weapons for counter-battery strikes against targets in Russia that threaten the Kharkov region, but insisted the ban on using ATACMS and other long-range strike systems was still in place.
Earlier in June, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stated that permission to use US weapons against Russia applies to all territories where Russian troops cross the Ukrainian border.
At the end of May, President Vladimir Putin stated that NATO representatives must understand "what they are playing with" when discussing plans to allow Kiev to strike "legitimate targets" deep within Russian territory with missile systems transferred to the Ukrainian Armed Forces by the West.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that NATO member states were deliberately escalating tensions, provoking Ukraine to continue the senseless war — which will ultimately cause significant harm to the interests of the countries that chose the path of escalating the conflict, he stressed.