The Pentagon said that it had not changed its position regarding Ukraine’s use of US weapons provided as part of military aid.

Sabrina Singh, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary in the Department of Defense, said that during a briefing the day before.

She was asked whether the United States planned to change its approach after the Russian offensive in the Kharkiv region.

Singh replied that the US position remained unchanged on this issue.

“We believe that the equipment that we provide to Ukraine, and that other nations provide to Ukraine, should be used to retake Ukrainian sovereign territory,” the Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary said.

When asked to clarify whether this was a request to the Ukrainian side or a prerequisite, the Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary emphasized that the US appeals in this regard were quite public.

“At every meeting of the Ukrainian Defense Contact Group convened by Secretary of Defense Austin, the weapons that are provided are intended for use on the battlefield. And in his conversations with Mr. Umierov, the secretary talks about how best to use these weapons. We believe that this is within Ukrainian territory,” Singh added.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi reacted to restrictions on the use of Western weapons by the Ukrainian Defense Forces to strike Russian soil.

According to Zelenskyi, there should be no restrictions on the use of Western weapons, as it is not about Ukraine’s offensive, but about defense against Russian attacks.

“I don’t think there should be any bans, because this is not about the Ukrainian army’s offensive using Western weapons into Russian territory. This is a defense. It’s just like the preventive sanctions that we all talked about before the full-scale invasion. This is the same thing. This is a warning,” he said on May 16 during a meeting with journalists.

During his recent visit to Kyiv, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that Washington would provide Ukraine with $2 billion in military funding.

According to Bloomberg, the United States considers providing Ukraine with an additional Patriot air defense system.