US Defense Secretary backs permission for strikes on Russia, sees benefit for Ukrainians

Photo: Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin (Getty Images)

Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin believes that the authorization of strikes on Russia will bring enough benefits for Ukrainians.

According to him, the new policy, which allows the Ukrainian military to conduct limited strikes inside Russia with American ammunition, will be “very, very helpful to the Ukrainians going forward.”

“What we have done is provided Ukraine the ability to counter fire, to fire back at those Russian troops that are firing at them and to be able to take out their artillery batteries as they’re firing at the Ukrainians,” Austin says.

According to CNN, Austin's comments came a few days after Biden permitted Ukraine to strike with American munitions inside Russia, but limited it to targets near the border with Kharkiv, where Russian troops have concentrated their efforts.

Ukraine's strikes against Russia

At the end of May, it became known that US President Joe Biden had permitted Ukraine to use the transferred US weapons to strike Russia.

At the same time, as AR wrote in June, Ukraine has already used US weapons to strike Russia. According to the source, the US weapons have been used by Ukrainian defenders in recent days.