Why Ukraine wants to deploy Western long-range missiles in Russia – World

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine is pushing for permission from its Western partners to use the long-range missiles they supply to strike targets deep inside Russia as Ukrainian forces struggle to stop the Russian advance in eastern Ukraine.

Kyiv officials argue that the weapons are crucial to weakening Russia's ability to attack Ukraine and forcing the country to shift its offensive capabilities further from the border.

Russia has warned that it would view allowing such long-range strikes as an act of war, and Ukraine's Western allies are wary of alienating the country, which has the world's largest nuclear arsenal.

The issue is also expected to weigh heavily on meetings between President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the White House on Friday and with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later this month.

Long-range missiles include systems such as the British Storm Shadow and the similar French-made SCALP or the US-made Army Tactical Missile System, ATACMS.

Ukraine is currently stepping up its own programs to develop long-range weapons, including drones that can already hit targets deep inside Russia. However, Western missiles would be more precise and have far greater destructive power.

The air-launched St

Ukraine is already using orm Shadow and the ground-based ATACMS for precise attacks on military installations and strategic infrastructure within the Russian-occupied territories – but not on Russian soil.

Germany has long refused to deliver its TAURUS long-range missiles, citing concerns about international escalation.

HOW WOULD YOU HELP UKRAINE?
Ukraine views the ability to deploy long-range missiles behind enemy lines as crucial, allowing it to attack air bases, supply depots and communications centers hundreds of kilometers across the border.

The country argues that this would help reduce Russia's air superiority and weaken the supply lines needed to carry out its daily air strikes on Ukraine – using drones, missiles and powerful glide bombs – and to sustain its military ground offensive in Ukraine.

With winter likely to slow that advance, long-range airstrikes will become a higher priority. Kyiv wants to go back on the offensive to make up for a shortage of military personnel after two and a half years of war and to protect its badly damaged energy infrastructure.

Last week, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Zelensky and was cool to Kyiv's request, saying Ukraine has already attacked targets in Russia with domestically produced weapons. Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Charlie Dietz also noted that the ATACMs are not the answer to the main threat to Ukraine from Russian-launched long-range glide bombs, which are fired from more than 300 kilometers away, beyond the range of the ATACMS.

WILL THE WEST GIVE IN?
While the United States and other NATO members support Ukraine with weapons, training and financial aid, they try to avoid direct confrontation with Russia.

The Kremlin says a red line would be crossed if Western missiles were deployed on its territory – a warning reiterated by Russian President Vladimir Putin this week.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy discussed the issue at length this week in London and during a joint trip to Kyiv. They made no public comments on a change in missile policy, but pointed out that Russia is trying to further shift the strategic balance in Ukraine by acquiring Iranian long-range missiles.

Ukraine, for its part, says it has already violated Russia's red lines with its five-week-long invasion of the Russian border region of Kursk. Zelensky added that he hoped the allies would make “strong decisions” when he met with Biden later this month. ___