US President Joe Biden has “strongly condemned” Russia’s ballistic missile attack on a military training centre in Poltava. The statement appeared on the White House website, according to Komersant ukrainskyi
“…Russian missiles have struck a military training centre and hospital in Ukraine, killing more than 50 people and wounding dozens. I strongly condemn this horrific attack.”
– biden said.
For him, the attack is a tragic reminder of Putin’s attempts to break the will of a free people. But the people of Ukraine are standing firm, the US President said.
“The United States will continue to support them [Ukraine], including by providing air defence systems and the capabilities they need to defend their country. Make no mistake: Russia will not win this war. The people of Ukraine will win. And on this tragic day, and every day, the United States stands with them,”
– biden said.
Later at the briefing, Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder said that US support still does not include authorisation for US weapons to strike deep into Russia.
“I have no announcements about changes in our policy… There are no changes,”
– he said regarding the authorisation regime for the use of US weapons by Ukrainians.
As reported previously, Patrick Ryder said that the United States does not seek conflict with Russia, but “simply supports a democratic country”.
Western weapons and permits for their use
As is well known, the United States(and Germany after them) allow the use of weapons provided by them only for strikes on the border territories of Russia. This permission was granted by US President Joe Biden only at the end of May, and before that, strikes on Russian territory with US weapons were generally prohibited.
However, towards the end of June, unofficial statements were heard from the US side that the restrictions “do not apply to geography or a certain radius”. This means that Ukraine is allegedly able to strike at those facilities and territories from which attacks on Ukraine are directly directed, even if they are deeper than the border areas.
Experts say that border strikes will not change the situation at the front, so Zelenskyy is asking his partners for permission to use their weapons on Russian territory. Some Western countries have already given such permission.