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National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stated that the permission to use US-provided arms spans “anywhere that Russian forces are coming across the border from the Russian side to the Ukrainian side to try to take additional Ukrainian territory”.
He said this in an interview with PBS, according to POLITICO.
Sullivan emphasized that regions don’t make any difference as long as we’re talking about the border, adding that Russians have been making ‘exploratory moves’ in the Sumy region.
“This is not about geography. It’s about common sense. If Russia is attacking or about to attack from its territory into Ukraine, it only makes sense to allow Ukraine to hit back against the forces that are hitting it from across the border,” Sullivan pointed out.
He also suggested that Ukraine should keep using air defense systems, supplied by the United States as well, to take Russian planes out of the sky in Russian airspace.
This statement differs from the stance Biden’s administration expressed earlier in May.
Previously, American official position on Ukraine only addressed the Kharkiv region where Russians launched an offensive in order to recapture Vovchansk. Back then, the Institute for the Study of War estimated that such limit allowed Ukraine to reduce the space of Russian sanctuary only by 16%.
Read also: US to halt all Patriot deliveries to meet Ukraine’s demand first
