WASHINGTON, August 8. /TASS/. Washington is not restricting the use of US-supplied weapons by Ukraine in its attack on Russia’s borderline Kursk Region, US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters at a briefing.
"I'll answer it this way. Nothing about our policy has changed, and with the actions that they are taking today, they're not a violation of our policy," Miller said, when asked if Ukraine could use US-supplied weapons in the Kursk Region.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed on May 31 that US President Joe Biden had authorized the use of American weapons for attacks inside Russia. According to him, they can only be used to attack Russian regions bordering Kharkov. Blinken didn’t rule out the possibility of expanding the range in the future. On the same day, the German government announced that German weapons might be used to shield the Kharkov Region from Russian attacks. Currently, Western countries have no unified position regarding restrictions on the use of the weapons they supply to Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on May 28 that the selection of targets and flight assignments for modern strike systems were made remotely or automatically, "without the presence of Ukrainian servicemen." This is done by those who produce and supply these systems to Ukraine, he pointed out. Putin warned that NATO countries should "realize what they are playing with." Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev emphasized on May 31 that all long-range weapons delivered to Ukraine were already "directly controlled by NATO servicemen" and that such actions could be a pretext for retaliatory strikes.
On August 6, the borderline Kursk Region came under a massive attack from Ukraine. Shelling and drone strikes killed five civilians and injured 31 people, including six children.
Army General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, said that Russian troops would complete their operation in the Kursk Region by defeating Ukrainian forces and regaining control of the border. According to Gerasimov, the Ukrainian assault involved up to 1,000 servicemen. The enemy lost 315 troops, with at least 100 of them killed, as well as 54 pieces of equipment, including seven tanks.