Sullivan said that the United States is not against the use of American weapons by the Armed Forces of Ukraine for attacks on Crimea
The United States does not object to the use of American weapons by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) to strike at Crimea , since this territory is “internationally recognized” as part of the republic. Jake Sullivan , National Security Adviser to the US President, made the announcement on CNN. The politician stressed that Washington does not support strikes deep into Russia using weapons transferred to Kiev by NATO .
Earlier it became known that the head of the British Ministry of Defense, Ben Wallace, evaded answering the question of whether London had given Ukraine permission to use Storm Shadow missiles for strikes in Crimea, and also established a requirement to use them exclusively within Ukrainian territory.
Allegations of strikes on Russian territory
On April 5, White House strategic communications coordinator John Kirby said that the United States allows Kiev to strike at new regions of Russia, but does not help Ukraine in conducting military operations outside its territory.
On April 18, Deputy Pentagon Secretary for Political Affairs Colin Kahl said that the United States had expressed concern that the Ukrainian Armed Forces could use American-supplied weapons to attack Russia.
In January, the British newspaper The Times, citing a source in the Pentagon , wrote that the United States no longer insists that the Armed Forces of Ukraine not strike at Russian territory. According to the interlocutor of the publication, the United States cannot tell Ukraine how to use the weapons transferred to it.
Prior to this, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said that Kiev had pledged to the United States not to carry out such attacks.
In February, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister also promised that if Western fighter jets and long-range weapons were received, Kiev would not use them to strike Russian territory.
In turn, State Duma deputy and head of the Russian delegation at the international talks in Vienna , Konstantin Gavrilov , stressed that Moscow is ready for a tough response to arms supplies to Ukraine from the countries of the North Atlantic Alliance.
Zelensky vows not to use F-16s to advance into Russia
US President Joe Biden, at a press conference following the G7 summit and a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky , said that the Ukrainian leader promised not to use F-16 fighter jets to advance into Russia if they were delivered.
I have Zelensky’s categorical assurances that they will not use them to continue and cross into Russian geographic territory, but when Russian troops are within Ukraine, they will be able to use them.
The head of the White House also said that modern Western aircraft will not be involved in the counter-offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, assuming that it starts “tomorrow or in a week, two, five, seven or ten”, but in the long term, aircraft will be able to strike at Russian headquarters, which are currently out of reach.
First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Dmitry Novikov said that the promise of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky not to use American F-16 fighters for attacks on Russian territory is a smoke screen.
On May 20, the head of the office of the President of Ukraine, Mikhail Podolyak , announced that Western countries had made a positive decision on the transfer of F-16 fighters. According to him, now the allies are solving logistical issues.
