president Volodymyr Zelensky is calling on Western allies to lift restrictions on the use of weapons against military targets in Russia. The latest call comes after Moscow bombarded Ukraine with missiles and drones for the second day in a row on Tuesday, including some that Kyiv said were shot down by Western F-16 fighter jets.

Reply to Selenskyj, spokesman for the US National Security Council John Kirby said there had been “no changes” in US policy regarding gun restrictions.

Ukraine has recently made progress by invading and occupying the Russian region of Kursk and reports that it 594 Russian soldiers and 100 settlementsBut Russian troops are slowly advancing in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk and are within 11 kilometers of Pokrovsk, a key logistical hub whose capture would threaten Kyiv’s control over the rest of the region.

Both sides are trying to gain an advantage before the negotiations Both have hinted that war could happen before the end of the year. Zelensky argues that Ukraine needs to strike deep behind enemy lines to gain the upper hand and dictate the terms of the war. But Western allies fear that Putin would view permission to attack Russia directly as an escalation.

“Ukraine will continue to try to obtain permission to use longer-range weapons, but will adhere to Western conditions” so as not to jeopardize further aid, says the Russia expert at Eurasia Group Alex Bridgman“At the same time, Kyiv will argue that the restrictions make no sense since there have been no major Russian reactions to the deployment of Western short-range missiles and tanks on Russian territory since the spring.”