The Biden Administration has banned the use of the US-made ATACMS missile in Ukrainian strikes on Russia
Monday’s Coverage: 11+ Killed, 27 Wounded in Russia Strike on Lakeside Resort in Kharkiv Region
Map: Institute for the Study of War
UPDATE 1021 GMT:
A Russian court has sentenced physicist Anatoly Maslov to 14 years in a penal colony on a charge of treason.
Maslov, 77, is one of a series of eminent Russian scientists detained during Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Some of them, including Maslov and colleagues Alexander Shiplyuk and Valery Zvegintsev, conducted theoretical work in areas supporting the development of hypersonic missiles.
UPDATE 0802 GMT:
Ukraine’s air defenses downed 28 of 29 Iran-type drones launched by Russia overnight.
The UAVs were intercepted over the Odesa, Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Cherkasy, Kherson, and Kirovohrad regions.
Transport infrastructure was struck in Kharkiv city, injuring seven people and damaging more than 25 trucks, buses, and other vehicles.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has indicated that no agreement has been reached on the use of US-supplied weapons inside Russia.
In an interview with Reuters, Zelenskiy said of negotiations with international partners, “So far, there is nothing positive.”
The President emphasized that he has not broken agreements with allies who have banned the use of arms inside Russia: “We can’t put the whole volume of weapons at risk.”
The Biden Administration publicly swung back and forth last week on the issue, following its first delivery last month of ATACMS missile systems with a range of 300 km (186 miles).
The Administration had said that the missiles could only be use in strikes on Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. Ukrainian officials, including a delegation in Washington, noted that the prohibition gives Russia a sanctuary as it carries out its cross-border offensive into the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine.
On Wednesday, while visiting Kyiv, Secretary of State Antony Blinken appeared to lift the ban, saying the decision on strikes was up to Ukraine.
But the following day, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters, “We believe that the equipment, the capabilities that we are giving Ukraine, that other countries are giving to Ukraine should be used to take back Ukrainian sovereign territory.” US officials restated the position over the weekend.
Lithuania Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis supported Zelenskiy in a statementon Monday: “From the beginning we have made the mistake of limiting the Ukrainians because it could be seen as an escalation.”
Saying Ukraine’s supporters are “dominated by fear of Russia”, Landsbergis summarized:
The Ukrainians must be allowed to use the equipment provided to them so that they can achieve strategic objectives. They must be able to strike Russian territory, supply lines, and military units preparing to attack Ukraine. Only one side has rules imposed on it.
We must abandon these rules that we created.
The Foreign Minister said Western military trainers should return to Ukraine, with Lithuania joining a coalition led by France.
French President Emmanuel Macron said earlier this year that NATO and European forces could be deployed in Ukraine in support roles, but the proposal has been rejected by most European leaders and the US.
Meanwhile, Zelenskiy said the battl situation on the battlefield was “one of the most difficult” during Russia’s 27-month invasion, amid “a very powerful wave” of Moscow attacks in the Kharkiv region and in the Donetsk region in the east.
No one even notices that there are actually more battles in the east of the country, specifically in the Donbas direction: Kurakhove, Pokrovsk, Chasiv Yar,” he said.
But Zelenskiy said the situation in Kharkiv is now “under control” after Russian advances along the border in its 12-day offensive.
