𝐔𝐒 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐁𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐧: 𝐔𝐒 𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐎𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐔𝐤𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐓𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐓𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐔𝐒-𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬

ABC News reports that the US is likely to arm Ukraine with ATACMS, which have a range of up to 190 miles

by Dave DeCamp, Antiwar. com, September 11, 2023

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that it was up to Ukraine whether or not to target Russian territory with US-provided weapons, a policy that brings the US and Russia closer to a direct clash.
Blinken made the comments after ABC News reported that it’s likely the Biden administration will soon arm Ukraine with Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), which have a range of up to 190 miles.
While appearing on ABC’s ‘This Week,’ Blinken was asked if he was OK with Ukraine using ATACMS to hit targets deep inside Russian territory. “In terms of their targeting decisions, it’s their decision, not ours,” Blinken replied.
When asked about the increasing Ukrainian drone attacks inside Russia, Blinken claimed the US does not “encourage” or “enable” the operations. However, The Economist recently reported that Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia frequently use intelligence gathered by Kyiv’s Western backers.
As the war has dragged on, the Biden administration has been less and less concerned about the risk of Ukrainian attacks inside Russia escalating the war. The administration previously feared that Russia could respond to such attacks by targeting a NATO country.
The US has also brushed off Russian warnings against providing Ukraine with longer-range missiles, as Moscow has previously called them a “red line.” According to a US official speaking to ABC, the ATACMS “are coming.”