US doesn’t support Ukraine using American weapons in Russia: Ambassador

The U.S. does not “enable or encourage” Ukraine to use American-made weapons in targets within Russia, according to U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink.

President Joe Biden’s requested $61 billion Ukraine aid package finally passed through Congress and was signed into law last week, with Kyiv beginning to receive new shipments of weapons and military equipment within days.

Earlier this year, before the aid package passed, the Biden administration secretly sent Ukraine long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) capable of hitting a range of targets within Russian territory.

Brink hailed the move last month, writing in a post to X, formerly Twitter, that the U.S. providing “Ukraine with long-range ATACMS at the direction of Joe Biden” was “another message that our commitment to Ukraine’s defense is unwavering.”

However, while speaking to Ukrainian media on Thursday, the U.S. ambassador reportedly emphasized that all American-supplied weapons are not to be used for strikes within Russia, regardless of their capabilities.

“The first part of helping Ukraine defend itself is supplying our weapons and those of our partners to support the efforts of your brave heroes on the front lines to return your territories,” Brink said, according to The Kyiv Independent.

“Our position from the beginning has been that we do not enable or encourage the use of our weapons in Russia, outside Ukraine’s territory,” she added.

Newsweek reached out for comment to the Ukrainian military via email on Friday night.

Some U.S. officials have expressed concerns over a recent series of Ukrainian drone strikes on oil refineries inside Russia, due in part to the potential for the strikes to destabilize the global oil market and drive up prices.

Vice President Kamala Harris urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to stop the attacks during a private February meeting in Germany, according to The Washington Post. Zelensky reportedly “brushed off her concerns.”

The Ukrainian president has said that U.S. weapons will not be used to hit targets within Russia, insisting on the war’s two-year anniversary that only Ukrainian-made weapons would be used for attacks in Russia.

However, Russia might argue that the weapons have already been used to strike Russian territory, as the ATACMS have been used in regions of Ukraine that the Kremlin claims to have annexed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed to annex Crimea in 2014. He made the same claim about the Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk in September 2022.

Ivan Stupak, national security adviser for the Ukrainian parliament, told Newsweek earlier this week that Kyiv was working “to eliminate as many Russian war objects as is possible” before Russian forces adapt to the long-range ATACMS.

“As we know, the Russians are able to adapt in a very short period of time,” said Stupak. “I think we have up to two months to eliminate as many Russian war objects as is possible before the Russians will adapt.”

While the U.S. has stipulated that Ukraine should not use American-supplied weapons in attacks inside Russia, allies including the U.K. and Latvia have been sending Ukraine weapons with no strings attached.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, the U.K.’s former prime minister, told reporters this week that Ukraine has the “right” to use the weapons it receives on targets inside Russia “just as Russia is striking inside Ukraine.”