America News Agency

On Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed that the United States had authorised Ukraine to use US weapons to attack targets on Russian territory near Kharkiv.

The United States is the latest in a series of countries to relax restrictions following intensified attacks on the Kharkiv region.

‘I believe that the use of Western weapons against targets in Russia is only a matter of time,’ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj said at a press briefing during his visit to Stockholm on Friday.

In recent days, several NATO countries, including Germany and France, have made similar statements in response to Ukraine's call. Last week, Swedish Defence Minister Pål Jonson said that Swedish arms could be used against targets on Russian territory.

Russia accuses Nato and the West of escalating the war. President Vladimir Putin has threatened that there will be consequences, while Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev has also described it as an escalation. Medvedev writes in Telegram that it is no longer a question of ‘military support’, but that Nato is actively participating in the war against Russia.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg rejects Russian threats. He points out that at the beginning of the war there were arms shipments from countries without any restrictions on how they could be used.

Stoltenberg said at a NATO meeting in Prague on Friday. ‘We must not forget that this is a war of aggression. Russia has attacked Ukraine, and Ukraine must have the right to respond and defend itself,’ he said.

The recent escalation of Russian aggression against Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, has led more and more Western countries to relax their reservations about sending weapons systems to Ukraine.