"Do Something" PR.

As I repeat ad nauseam since 2023--it is being done, and everything that follows is merely a PR designed for domestic consumption. They take a known fact and... recycle it over and over again. 

US President Joe Biden has given Kiev permission to use American weapons to hit targets in the part of Russia bordering Ukraine’s Kharkov Region, a US official told Politico on Thursday. Update: the White House later confirmed the decision in a written statement to multiple media outlets. “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.

These moves are needed to cover up an utter failure in 404. Plus, good for RT piece to at least point this out:

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.”

That is why this whole "escalation" is primarily a verbal one and when yet another illiterate boy from Valdai tries to wax strategic, having about zero background in anything related to military and modern warfare:

Dmitry Suslov: It’s time for Russia to think about a ‘demonstrative’ nuclear test. The US-led bloc has lost its fear of the mushroom cloud, but seeing one would perhaps focus some mind. 

You can dismiss it as an attempt from this pathetic Moscow copy of already pathetic CFR and their publication Foreign Affairs to signal own relevance. Needless to say, most of those "experts" from Valdai wouldn't be allowed to command a platoon, let alone express their opinions on matters of national security which are based on a serious intel whose knowledge requires the highest levels of clearance and even that may not be enough, but here we are. RT continues to provide tribune to these nincompoops--get a load of the C.V. of this Suslov guy--but, hey, they need to feed their families too, you know.