According to an official deployed in Russia, Ukrainian drones are attacking a town near the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant

KHARKIV, Ukraine: Weeks after deciding to allow Ukraine to use U.S. weapons for limited attacks on Russian territory, the country has made some progress in containing a new Russian advance on the northeast front, but military commanders are clamoring for a lifting of restrictions on long-range missiles.
Due to deteriorating conditions on the battlefield, the United States was forced to allow Ukraine to use Western-supplied artillery and missile systems to defend the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, while attacking border regions where Kremlin forces were massing and launching attacks.
The effects were not long in coming: the Ukrainian forces pushed back the Russian positions, gained time to better fortify their own positions and even carried out minor offensive actions.
However, commanders said that without the ability to deploy long-range guided missiles such as ATACMS, their hands were tied.
“We could attack (Russian) brigade command points and the entire northern grouping, as they are 100-150 kilometers from the front,” said Hefastus, an artillery commander in the Kharkiv region who goes by his call sign. “Ordinary ammunition cannot reach them. With this type we can do a lot to destroy their command centers.”
The Ukrainian commanders interviewed spoke on the condition that their call signs be used in accordance with brigade rules.
The U.S. on Friday expanded the scope of its policy to allow retaliation across a wider region. But the Biden administration has not lifted restrictions on Ukraine that prohibit the use of U.S.-supplied ATACMS to attack Russian territory, according to three U.S. officials familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. The U.S. began supplying Ukraine with long-range ATACMS earlier this year, but with conditions, including that they cannot be used to launch attacks inside Russia and can only be deployed on sovereign territory, which includes land occupied by the Russians.
This will prevent attacks on airfields and military infrastructure deep in Russia’s hinterland, underscoring a widespread Ukrainian accusation that Western allies are undermining Ukraine’s ability to fight effectively out of fear of possible Russian provocations.
Ukrainian politicians are pushing to enable U.S. allies to attack certain high-value targets in Russia with ATACMS that have a range of over 100 kilometers.
“Unfortunately, we still cannot reach airfields and their aircraft, for example. That is the problem,” Yehor Cherniev, deputy chairman of the parliamentary committee on national security, defense and intelligence, said earlier this month. “That is why we ask (the allies) to lift restrictions on the use of long-range missiles against limited military targets on Russian territory.”
Since the end of May, Ukraine has managed to attack Russian troops and air defense systems twenty kilometers from the border in the Kharkiv region. Moscow opened a new front in the region on May 10, capturing one village after another in a comprehensive advance that caught Ukrainian troops off guard.
While the move is not a panacea, it has severely slowed Russia’s advance. It even allowed Ukrainian troops to advance along the northeastern border and recently recapture areas southwest of Vovchansk, according to local reports. Brigades there said army high-mobility missile systems, or HIMARS, were fired hours after the authorization was granted, destroying an air defense complex equipped to launch the deadly missiles.
The stakes were high at the time, with Ukrainian military leaders anticipating another attack aimed at drawing troops away from other intense combat zones in the Donetsk region. First Deputy Defense Minister Ivan Havryliuk told the Associated Press that at least 90,000 Russian troops deep inside Russian territory were preparing for a new assault.
“The HIMARS were not silent all day,” said Hefastus, recalling the first hours when permission was given to use the missile systems. “From the first days, the Ukrainian armed forces managed to destroy entire columns of troops along the border waiting for the order to invade Ukraine.”
“Before, we couldn’t attack them. It was quite complicated. All the depots with ammunition and other resources were 20 kilometers out of our reach,” he said.
The dynamics changed almost immediately, allowing Ukrainian forces to stabilize that part of the front line. Soldiers near a strategic area north of Kharkiv, where fighting to push back Russian troops continues, said enemy troops had moved their positions back several kilometers. Such claims could not be independently verified.
“The tactics have changed,” says Kalina, a platoon commander in the Khartia Brigade, due to Ukraine’s improved striking power. Previously, they could only repel incoming infantry attacks; now they can use more artillery against Russian firing positions.
The US decision came at the last minute, after much lobbying by Ukrainian politicians, and just as troops were preparing for battle in anticipation of Russia’s possible opening of a new front in the northeast.
Ukrainian politicians hope to convince American allies to allow the use of ATACMS against specific targets.
“It seems quite absurd when the enemy is so actively advancing on our territory and attacking Ukrainian territory with missiles of all types and calibers, and we cannot strike back on enemy territory, where they store logistics and supplies,” said Lys Mykyta, the commander of a drone company of the 103rd Territorial Defense Brigade.
Ukrainian officials, however, said only desperate conditions on the battlefield could convince the U.S. government to abandon the restriction.
The recent invasion of the Kharkiv region, which also involved valuable Ukrainian reserves, forced the United States to change its mind about allowing self-defense strikes on Russian territory, Cherniev said.
“The decision on ATACMS will probably also be changed based on the situation on the ground,” he said. “I hope the decision will be made as soon as possible.”