United States President Joe Biden has eased a ban on Ukraine using US weapons inside Russian territory to help the country defend its northeastern Kharkiv region from attack.

Afghan Voice Agency (AVA) - Monitoring: “The president recently directed his team to ensure that Ukraine is able to use US weapons for counter-fire purposes in Kharkov so Ukraine can hit back at Russian forces hitting them or preparing to hit them,” the official said.
According to Politico, this decision was “secretly” communicated to Kiev some time before its official confirmation.
In practice, Biden’s direction will allow Ukrainian forces to use long-range American weapons – but not the ATACMS missiles quietly being shipped to Kiev since early April – to attack a band of Russian territory bordering Kharkov Region, where Russia recently seized dozens of towns and villages.
The White House later confirmed the decision in a written statement to multiple media outlets.
Ukraine had previously used these towns and villages to launch artillery, drone, and missile strikes on the same Russian territory covered by Biden’s directive. However, Russia’s push into Kharkov Region forced the Ukrainian military to abandon these staging grounds, ensuring that it could no longer strike targets in Belgorod and other Russian settlements near the border.
The US official who spoke to Politico claimed that Biden’s decision “has not changed” the US’ prohibition on strikes deep inside Russian territory. 
Biden has come under pressure to allow Ukraine unrestricted use of American weaponry against Russia in recent weeks, but – publicly at least – still refuses to grant this permission.
Moscow has dismissed the debate over such strikes in Western capitals. 
“American weapons are already being used against various targets outside the combat zone,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters last week. 
“We proceed from the fact that American and other Western weaponry strikes targets on the territory of Russia, primarily civilian infrastructure and residential areas," he added./Fars News