United States President Joe Biden has lifted restrictions on Ukraine using weapons supplied by the U.S. against targets on Russian territory.

However, Biden only allows Ukraine to use the weapons to defend the under-fire Kharkiv region, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday.

“The president recently directed his team to ensure that Ukraine is able to use U.S.-supplied weapons for counter-fire purposes in the Kharkiv region so Ukraine can hit back against Russian forces that are attacking them or preparing to attack them,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Russia’s invasion began with dozens of missile strikes on cities all over Ukraine before dawn on February 24, 2022.

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Russian ground troops moved in quickly and within a few weeks were in control of large areas of Ukraine and had advanced to the suburbs of Kyiv.

Russian forces were bombarding Kharkiv, and they had taken territory in the east and south as far as Kherson, and surrounded the port city of Mariupol.

But they hit very strong Ukrainian resistance almost everywhere and faced serious logistical problems with poorly motivated Russian troops suffering shortages of food, water and ammunition, according to BBC.

Ukrainian forces were also quick to deploy Western-supplied arms such as the Nlaw anti-tank system, which proved highly effective against the Russian advance.

By October 2022, the picture had changed dramatically and having failed to take Kyiv, Russia withdrew completely from the north. Since then, little has changed on the ground.

The Star