UKRAINE, June 20 —  Ukraine can use American weapons to defeat any Russian forces attacking the border, not just those near the Kharkiv region, wrote Politico, citing U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and two U.S. officials who remain anonymous.

Politico reported that the officials announced this just a few weeks after the U.S. gave Kyiv the green light to strike Russia in response to a cross-border assault on the city of Kharkiv. At the time, U.S. officials emphasized that this policy was limited to the Kharkiv region.

Politico has discovered that since then, Ukrainian forces have used American weapons to strike inside Russia at least once, destroying targets in Belgorod and managing to hold back a Russian offensive. 

They also report, officials from Europe and Ukraine continued to pressure the United States to ease its restrictions further, allowing Ukraine to strike anywhere in Russia.

Jake Sullivan told PBS on June 18 that the agreement with Ukraine about firing American weapons into Russia extends to “anywhere that Russian forces are coming across the border from the Russian side to the Ukrainian side to try to take additional Ukrainian territory.”

Oleh Syniehubov, Kharkiv Oblast Governor, said on Ukrainian TV on June 13 that the number of Russian attacks in Kharkiv has significantly decreased after the Ukrainian military destroyed four S-300 launchers in the Belgorod region (Russia).

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  • The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported on June 12 that the Ukrainian forces targeted one S-300 air defense battery and two S-400 air defense batteries near occupied Belbek and Sevastopol in Crimea overnight.