US Endorses Ukrainian Strikes On Russian Territory Despite Previous Reassurances - Reports

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th August, 2022) The United States has endorsed Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory, including on targets in Crimea, despite all previous reassurances that Kiev will not do so with the weapons Washington has supplied, Politico reported, citing a senior Biden administration official.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told the Voice of America on Wednesday that Kiev has no restrictions regarding the de-occupying allegedly temporarily occupied territories by Russia - Crimea and the Donbas. In July, Reznikov also said Ukraine will receive "sooner or later" long-range weapons systems from its partners amid reports that the United States was considering supplying Kiev with longer-range missiles for the so-called HIMARS rocket system of up to 300 kilometers (186 miles).

The United States does not select targets and all weapons it has provided are for self-defense purposes; any target Ukraine chooses to pursue on its sovereign soil is by definition self-defense, the report cited the official as saying on Thursday.

Biden administration officials have said on several occasions that Washington received assurances from Kiev not to strike into Russian territory with the US-supplied rockets systems whose range is 50 miles.

Kiev does not legally consider Crimea and the Donbas as being Russian territory notwithstanding that the two regions became part of Russia after their residents voted in overwhelming numbers to join the country in a referendum in 2014.

On February 24, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk requested help to defend them from intensifying attacks by Ukrainian troops. The United States and its allies imposed comprehensive sanctions against Russia and have supplied offensive and defensive weapons to Ukraine worth multiple billions of Dollars.