President Joe Biden issued a fierce critique of Russian President Vladimir Putin while defending his decision give Ukraine permission to carry out limited strikes within Russia using US weapons, writes CNN.

“I’ve known [Putin] for over 40 years - he’s concerned me for 40 years,” Biden told ABC News’ David Muir. “He’s not a decent man - he’s a dictator, and he’s struggling to make sure he holds his country together while still keeping this assault going.

We’re not talking about giving [Ukraine] weapons to strike Moscow, to strike the Kremlin, to strike – it’s just across the border, where they’re receiving significant fire from conventional weapons used by the Russians to go into the Ukraine, to kill the Ukrainians”, the president said, appearing to exaggerate how long he had been aware of Putin given that the Russian leader was serving as a KGB agent in East Germany 40 years ago.

Biden’s decision to loosen restrictions around the use of US weapons in Ukraine came after Russia made significant advances around the city in the northeastern part of the country close to the Russian border.

While it marked a break from long-standing policy, it is limited to the area around Kharkiv, and Ukraine has not requested permission beyond that, a US official previously told CNN, adding that they do not anticipate the US widening the area allowed.