The US State Department said on Tuesday that the United States does not encourage or enable Ukraine to launch attacks beyond its borders, a day after an attack targeted two bases in the heart of Russian territory.

 US State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a briefing in Washington: "We do not enable Ukraine to carry out strikes outside its borders. We also do not encourage it to launch attacks outside its borders."

 The American diplomat added that the United States is providing Ukraine with what it needs to defend its territory and sovereignty, stressing that Washington has not provided Kyiv with any weapons for use inside Russia.

 He pointed out that the United States clearly told the Ukrainians that these weapons are for defensive purposes.

 The story began when the New York Times earlier quoted an unnamed Ukrainian official as saying that Kyiv had targeted two military bases hundreds of miles away inside Russia using drones.

 The newspaper said that the drones launched from Ukrainian territory destroyed at least two planes in one of the two Russian bases and damaged several others.

 But Kyiv did not explicitly claim responsibility for the attack.

 On the other hand, the Russian authorities confirmed that a Russian air base in the Kursk region, near Ukraine, was attacked by a drone, which caused an oil storage tank to catch fire.

 After the attack, the Russian authorities, through Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, announced their intention to take "the necessary measures" to strengthen the protection of key facilities in light of the latest attack.

 Peskov reaffirmed that Russia does not see prospects for holding talks with Ukraine at the present time, adding that "the Russian Federation must achieve its stated goals."

 Washington had sent an implicit message to Russia, when it leaked information that it had secretly modified the "Himars" missile system that it provided to Ukraine, so that it would not reach a long range in the Russian depth.