Ukrainian intelligence officer Lieutenant Denis Yaroslavsky was visiting a military position near the Russian border on Friday when he encountered an artillery commander whose U.S.-made howitzers were aimed at Russia.
Lieutenant Yaroslavsky recalled the scene, saying the commander was in a good mood. Russian territory was within range. “He was very happy, he said, 'Now we can finally hit them.'”
Ukrainian officials have for weeks expressed the need to untie their commanders and called on allies to allow the use of Western weapons for a more effective defense, a demand that Ukraine finally agreed to on Thursday, in a significant move. The United States has changed its policy After months of resistance, Ukraine said it could use U.S.-supplied weapons to strike Russian military targets.
The shift is narrow, allowing Ukraine to use U.S. air defenses, guided rockets and artillery to fire at Russia along Ukraine's northeastern border. Fighting has been intense over the past three weeks near the city of Kharkiv as Russian troops have opened a new front across the border.
But the Biden administration has drawn a red line against using U.S. weapons against targets inside Russia, fearing escalation into a wider conflict. Ukrainian officials have sought to allay such concerns by characterizing the use of Western weapons as a purely defensive strategy, noting that Russia has been firing missiles and massing troops from the safety of its own territory, far from the range of Ukraine’s Soviet-era weapons.
In fact, U.S. officials said when they approved the weapons that they could only be used for self-defense in border areas.
A Russian missile struck an apartment building in Kharkiv early Friday, killing three people and injuring more than two dozen, including a doctor and a police officer, regional officials said, again highlighting the dangers facing civilians near the border.
Ukraine hopes the policy reversal will be key to helping it regain its footing in a war that Russia now dominates. It is also a historic moment for the United States: It appears to be the first time a U.S. president has allowed the limited use of U.S. weapons to strike inside the territory of a nuclear-armed adversary.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the decision “a step forward” toward protecting “the people of the border villages,” at a news conference in Sweden.
Intelligence officer Lt. Gen. Yaroslavsky said he met with other commanders on Friday and they were heartened by the Biden administration's decision. He said his understanding was that Ukraine had the right to launch the attack about 24 miles into Russian territory.
He said the range would allow Ukraine to strike Russian troop positions, weapons logistics centers and ammunition depots, but not airfields used by Russia to launch bombers into Ukraine because they are far from the border. He said many of NATO allies' weapon systems, including the U.S. M777 howitzer, are already deployed within range of Russian territory.
On Friday afternoon, Lieutenant Yaroslavsky declined to clarify whether Ukraine had opened fire on Russia.
Other military officers also welcomed the decision. “Does the Ukrainian Defense Forces know from where the aggressors are attacking Kharkiv?” said Ukrainian Air Force officer Colonel Yuri Inat, referring to the missile launch site on the Russian border. “Obviously, we know,” he said in a text message, noting that Ukraine has so far been unable to strike back.
Russian officials have been asserting all week that the situation risks escalation if NATO countries allow Ukraine more freedom to fire at Russia. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed on Friday that Ukraine fired U.S. weapons at Russia early in the war, “which proves the extent of the U.S. involvement in this conflict.”
The West has unveiled nearly every new weapon system to show its support for the war in Ukraine, and Russia has threatened ominous consequences for the West, but so far it has taken no action.
Col. Roman Kostenko, chairman of the Ukrainian parliament's defense and intelligence committee, said succumbing to Russia's escalatory threats would only show “weakness” on the part of Europe and the United States. He said it would certainly be noticed in other contexts around the world, including tensions between China and Taiwan.
He said policy changes were needed to deter attacks from other parts of Ukraine's border. Russia could quickly mass troops at any time, he said, and “it's important to hit them before they cross the border.”
Ukrainian officials have said allowing the use of Western weapons could help turn the tide of the border fighting and prevent an attack on the city of Kharkiv, whose center is just 24 miles from Russia, by striking missile launchers and aircraft inside Russia.
On Friday, Russian missiles struck an apartment building in Kharkiv, just hours after U.S. officials announced the change in policy. A fire broke out there, and minutes after the first missile struck, another missile hit the same spot, a tactic known as a “double-tap” meant to target emergency workers.
For the residents of Kharkiv, the bombing threatened every aspect of their lives.
Due to the short flight paths of bombs and missiles, civilians receive little to no warning and sometimes no warning at all, leaving them with no choice but to sleep and go about their normal lives knowing that they could be hit by a missile at any moment.
“Everything happened in an instant,” said Andriy Kolenchuk, a production manager at a printing company that was attacked on May 23. He said there were explosions, lights flashing, and debris falling from the ceiling. Dust and smoke flew everywhere, and “everyone was running around covered in blood.”
Western indecision exacerbates Kiev's vulnerability.
Before the Biden administration changed its position, officials from Britain, France, Poland and Sweden had expressed support for using their own weapons to strike Russia, and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also expressed support for allowing Ukraine to use weapons from NATO member states to strike targets in Russia.
Ukraine has been using its own fleet of long-range drones to strike targets deep inside Russia. Ukrainian officials said before the announcement in Washington that the U.S. weapons would help Ukrainian troops in ground operations north of Kharkiv and help Ukrainian air defenses defend the city.
On Friday, Russia and Ukraine also announced the release of 75 prisoners each, the first such exchange since February and a rare dialogue between the warring nations. “We remember everyone. We will do everything to find everyone,” Zelensky said. Wrote on social media.
Direct communications between Moscow and Kiev have been rare since the early days of the war, but the two sides have frequently exchanged prisoners in deals brokered by third parties such as the United Arab Emirates or Turkey.
Ukraine's headquarters for coordinating the treatment of prisoners of war said on Friday that 52 exchanges, including Friday's, had been carried out, with a total of 3,210 Ukrainians repatriated. Russia has not yet disclosed the total.
Maria Valenikova Reporting from Kharkov, Constant Mecht From Kiev, Ukraine, Ivan Necheplenko From Tbilisi, Georgia.
