White House has not changed its position on using US-supplied weapons to strike Russia

The White House has stated that its policy on the use of US weapons on targets in Russia has not changed, and that the US does not encourage this and will not facilitate such attacks.

Source: John Kirby, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the White House, at a briefing on 17 May, as reported by Voice of America

Details: Kirby was answering questions as discussions intensified about the need to change the Biden administration's approach to the use of US weapons after Russia's offensive in northern Kharkiv Oblast.

Quote: "We do not encourage nor do we enable attacks using US-supplied weapon systems inside Russian territory. That’s the policy, that has not changed." 

Background: Earlier, the Pentagon said it believed that the weapons provided by the US to Ukraine should be used within Ukrainian territory. 

The Wall Street Journal reported that Ukraine had asked the Biden administration to help identify targets in Russia that Kyiv could strike with its own weapons and had separately asked to lift restrictions on the use of US-provided weapons against military targets in Russia.

During a visit to Kyiv this week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken evaded answering media questions about whether the US was considering lifting restrictions on Ukraine's use of US-provided weapons. 

"We’ve not encouraged or enabled strikes outside Ukraine but ultimately Ukraine has to make decisions for itself about how it's going to conduct this war," he said.

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