US President Joe Biden allowed on Friday Ukraine to use American-provided weapons to counter Russian attacks in Kharkiv.
Germany shortly followed, saying it, too, had given Ukraine permission to fire its delivered weapons at targets in Russia.

Washington and Berlin's decisions came a few days after Canada and Finland had okayed Ukraine using their weapons to attack Russia. More than a dozen Western countries have granted similar permission.

On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the US decision to partially lift restrictions on using US-donated weapons to strike inside Russia as a “step forward.”

“This is a step forward toward (the) goal... of making it possible to defend our people who live in the villages on the border,” Zelensky said during a visit to Stockholm where he attended the third Nordic-Ukrainian Summit.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius justified his country’s decision to allow Ukraine strike Russia with German weapons, describing it as a “strategic adaptation to the changing situation.”

Russian officials have been proclaiming all week that NATO countries risk escalation if they provide Ukraine greater freedom to shoot into Russia.
Senior Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday that Russia was not bluffing when it spoke of the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine and warned Moscow's conflict with the West could escalate into all-out war.