Blinken Says Ukraine Can Address Threats on ‘Russian Side of the Border’ With US Weapons

U.S. Secretary of State announces a change in the Biden administration’s policy toward the Ukrainian use of U.S.-donated weapons.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a media conference after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers at the Czernin Palace, in Prague, Czech Republic, on May 31, 2024. (Peter David Josek/Pool/AFP via Getty Images))

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken signaled on May 31 that President Joe Biden’s administration has ratcheted forward support for Ukrainian military activity to deal with threats inside Russia’s borders but offered few specifics about the changing rules of engagement.

Throughout the more than two years of large-scale fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces, the Biden administration and other leaders of the NATO countries have gradually provided the Ukrainian side with more advanced and longer-ranged weapons systems, gradually considering and then reconsidering how much they can help the Ukrainians without escalating into an open conflict between NATO and a nuclear-armed Russia.