NATO downplays threat from Kremlin and US weapons after five dead in Kharkiv

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Friday downplayed the Kremlin’s threats of escalation after President Joe Biden secretly lifted restrictions on Ukraine’s use of U.S. weapons against targets on Russian territory, while a nighttime raid on Kharkiv killed five people.

The daily shelling of Ukraine’s second-largest city has led to a rethink in Washington, which had previously resisted allowing Ukraine to use longer-range American weapons to attack Russian territory, out of fear that this could drag NATO into direct conflict with Russia.

The Kremlin accused the West on Thursday of “entering a new round of escalation of tensions.”

Stoltenberg told reporters at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Prague: “This is part of the efforts of President (Vladimir) Putin and Moscow to prevent NATO allies from assisting Ukraine in its self-defence. And again: Ukraine has the right to self-defence and we have the right to assist Ukraine.”

US authorities said on Thursday that Biden had lifted restrictions on Ukraine’s use of US weapons against targets on Russian territory, but only in the defense of Kharkiv.

Five people were killed and at least 23 others injured, including two children, in a Russian attack on a residential area in Kharkiv overnight, regional police said early Friday, warning that residents could still be trapped under the rubble.

“The rescue and search operation continues. All services are deployed on site,” said Oleg Synyegubov, head of the Kharkiv region military administration.

Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said there was “not a single military person, not a single military facility” present.

The city lies directly across the border from Russia’s Belgorod and is regularly attacked by Russian missiles.

Russian attacks on a hardware store in Kharkiv left 16 people dead last weekend.

Across the border, in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar, the Russian military said on Friday it had shot down 29 Ukrainian drones overnight that had attacked the port city of Novorossiysk and an oil depot in Temryuk.

The strike at Temryuk sparked a fire that raged for several hours before it could be extinguished. Several workers in oil depots were injured, wrote the governor of the Krasnodar region, Veniamin Kondratiev, on the social media channel Telegram.

According to local authorities, no injuries were reported in the attack on Novorossiysk.

– Restrictions lifted –

A US official said Biden “recently directed his team to ensure that Ukraine has the ability to use US-supplied weapons or launch counterfire.

purposes in the Kharkiv region so that Ukraine can strike back against Russian forces that are attacking it or preparing to attack it.”

The official said ATACMS missiles, which could penetrate deeper into Russia, remain banned.

A second U.S. official confirmed the policy change, which followed weeks of behind-the-scenes discussions between the White House and senior U.S. military and State Department officials.

Biden gave his final approval in recent days, but the decision was kept secret for operational reasons and did not come into effect until Thursday.

French President Emmanuel Macron insisted this week that Ukraine should be allowed to “neutralize” bases in Russia used for attacks.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has so far been cool to the idea, but his country promised Ukraine on Thursday a new military aid package worth 500 million euros (540 million dollars).

bur-juf/smw/cwl/gv/db