The Pentagon believes that the weapons provided by the United States to Ukraine should be used within Ukrainian territory. This was stated by Deputy Spokesperson for the US Department of Defense Sabrina Singh during a briefing on May 16, UNN reports.
Yes, we haven't changed our position. 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
When asked whether this is a request to the Ukrainian side or a prerequisite, the Pentagon deputy spokeswoman said that the US requests in this regard are quite public.
"We've made our requests pretty public on this. Again, I would reiterate that, in every single Ukraine defense contact group that the Secretary convenes, the weapons that are provided, again, it's for use on the battlefield. And the Secretary, in his conversations with Minister Umerov, talks through how best those capabilities can be used, and we believe that is within Ukrainian territory," Singh added.
Addendum
At the same time, during his visit to Kyiv, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that the United States "does not encourage" strikes with American weapons outside of Ukraine, but that Ukraine "must make its own decision" on how it is going to fight this war.
The same position was reiterated at a briefing on Thursday, May 16, by Deputy Spokesperson for the US State Department Vedant Patel.
"So certainly not a policy change. Our policy has not changed, and the Secretary was clear about this. We do not encourage or enable strikes on Russian territory, but repeatedly we’ve also said that Ukraine ultimately makes its own decisions about its military strikes and its operations, and that continues to be the case," Patel said.
In turn, analysts and experts with whom Voice of America spoke believe that a new Russian offensive and constant shelling of Kharkiv may persuade America to reconsider its position.
"This restriction is one of the reasons why Kharkiv is suffering so much. If Ukraine could strike at Russian troops that are right across the border, Russia would have had much greater logistical problems before launching this offensive. If we had allowed Ukraine to shoot at Russian planes that are in Russian airspace and launching cruise bombs that kill people, fewer people would have died in Kharkiv," commented former US Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst.