WASHINGTON, August 12. /TASS/. The US doesn’t encourage Ukraine to strike beyond its borders during hostilities with Russia, a high-ranking US official said in a conference call with reporters on Friday.

"Our security assistance is conditions-based and it's done in close consultation with our Ukrainian partners. As President [of the US Joe] Biden has said, we are not encouraging Ukraine to strike beyond its borders now. This is a conflict that Russia has started and it's being fought on Ukrainian territory and enabling the Ukrainians to continue to strike Russian targets in the south and east is how we believe they can best defend their country," the official said.

On February 24 Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation in response to a request for help by the heads of the Donbass republics. He stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories, but aims to demilitarize and de-Nazify the country. The West retaliated to the Russian decision by imposing sweeping sanctions on the country. Also, Western countries started shipments of weapons to Kiev, which by now are worth billions of dollars. Some Western politicians have described the situation as an economic war on Russia. Putin said on March 16 that Western sanctions bear the signs of an aggression and the West pursues a long-term policy of containing Russia.