Russian official vows to respond to Biden move

MOSCOW — Russia will take strong retaliatory actions against Ukrainian attacks on its territory if it uses weapons provided by the United States, Andrei Kartapolov, head of the Russian lower house's defense committee, was quoted by the RIA news agency as saying on Friday.

Kartapolov said US President Joe Biden's decision to allow limited missile strikes inside Russia with US weapons would not impact Russia's military operation in Ukraine.

Senior Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev also said on Friday that Russia was serious when it spoke of the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine and that its conflict with the West could escalate into an allout war.

In a post on his official Telegram channel, Medvedev said Moscow's conflict with the West was developing according to the worst-case scenario and that "no one can rule out it escalating to the last stage".

Their comments come after four US officials told Reuters on Thursday that US President Joe Biden had quietly authorized Kyiv to launch US-supplied weapons at military targets inside Russia that are supporting an offensive against the city of Kharkiv.

A second US official said Biden's move comes as Russian forces push forward with an attack against the Kharkiv region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been pressing Kyiv's supporters, chiefly the US, to allow it to use longer-range weaponry they supply to hit targets on Russian soil.

Agencies Via Xinhua