Ukraine uses US weapons to strike interior of Russia with Biden approval: report

Ukraine struck the interior of Russia after the Biden administration gave the green light to the war-torn country last week. A Ukrainian official confirmed that US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) were used in the strike on Russia's interior.  

Ukrainian parliament member Yehor Cherniev confirmed that the HIMARS rockets were used to attack a logistics and artillery center in Russia near Ukraine's northern region of Kharkiv. The Kremlin has been conducting an offense in the region to take more of Ukraine in recent weeks, according to a report from The Hill.  

"We have already achieved some success and forced the Russians to stop shelling the city,” said Cherniev, who is also the deputy chairman of the Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence in the Ukrainian parliament, in a statement. “Also, thanks to the HIMARS strikes, we managed to reduce the offensive potential of Russian troops in this area.” 

Videos that were not immediately verified on Russian Telegram channels appeared to show the chaos and destruction caused by the HIMARS weapons. Last week, the Biden "directed his team to ensure that Ukraine is able to use US-supplied weapons for counter-fire purposes in the Kharkiv region so Ukraine can hit back against Russian forces that are attacking them or preparing to attack them," an official told the outlet.  

The policy reversal is one of many from the Biden administration in terms of changing policy in the war on what weapons and other tactics can be used. Prior to the announcement, Ukraine could only use weaponry from the US to fight where the Russian and Ukrainian armies met on the ground. Kyiv reportedly asked Biden to make the change after the Russian offensive occurred in Kharkiv. Despite the reports of Biden giving permission to the country to go full speed ahead in striking Russia's interior, Sec. of State Antony Blinken would not confirm or deny the policy, saying, "We haven’t encouraged or enabled strikes outside of Ukraine."    
 
He then added, "But Ukraine, as I’ve said before, has to make its own decisions about the best way to effectively defend itself.  We’re going to make sure that it has the equipment it needs to do that."