Zelensky on strikes inside Russia: 'It works, just as we expected'

President Volodymyr Zelensky has hailed the success of strikes inside Russia with Western-supplied weapons, saying the ability to hit "Russian terrorists' positions and launchers near the border… truly matters."

"It works. Just as we expected," he added during his daily address on June 18.

In May, the U.S. allowed Ukraine to use HIMARS multiple rocket launchers, GMLRS rockets, and artillery against Russian territory near Kharkiv and Sumy oblasts.

"We see how the world's commitment opens up new prospects for restoring our security," Zelensky said

Washington however still prohibits Ukraine from using ATACMS and other long-range U.S.-supplied weapons for strikes deeper inside Russia.

Zelensky on June 2 said the U.S. should also lift the ban on long-range strikes in order to protect lives, arguing that airfields deep inside Russia are used to launch strikes on Ukraine.

Speaking a few days later, U.S. President Joe Biden told ABC News that Washington was not authorizing Kyiv to carry out long-range strikes with U.S.-supplied weapons on locations far from the border with Ukraine, such as Moscow.

Russian troops beheaded Ukrainian soldier in Donetsk Oblast, Kyiv claims

In a post on social media, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said his office has received information that Russian commanders had given orders “not to capture Ukrainian servicemen, but instead to kill them with inhuman cruelty - by beheading.”

The Kyiv IndependentChris York