Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Szemoniak praised US President Joe Biden's decision to allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russian territory with American weapons. This long-awaited decision was made after months of negotiations between Washington and Kiev, the Polish Press Agency (PAP) reported, as quoted by BTA.
Shemoniak expressed his position on the social network Ex, saying: “This is the only and appropriate response to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, who only understands force. Nearly 1,000 days of this aggressive war leave no doubt about that.“
Today marks the thousandth day since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Kiev is currently facing an intensified Russian offensive in the Donetsk region, where Russian forces are advancing, supported by North Korean troops.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Szykorski also welcomed Biden's decision to lift the ban on Ukraine using American weapons to strike Russian territory. He wrote in Aix: “Victims of aggression have the right to defend themselves. Strength deters, weakness provokes.“
With Biden's decision, Kiev can now use the US-made ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) long-range missiles to strike targets in Russia. It happened on the same day that Russia struck Ukraine's power grid, leaving several cities without power and killing at least seven people.
At the beginning of September, the Ukrainian media reported on the strengthening of Moscow's offensive in the Donbass. At the time, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned that lifting the ban on Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory would not turn the war in Kiev's favor.
Since then, Russian troops have occupied several villages and reached 10 km from the Dnipropetrovsk region – a key region bordering the almost entirely occupied Donetsk region.