Brendan Cole – NEWSWEEK Sept 11, 2024

Anthony Blinken, Vladimir Zelensky and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy

The West has probably already decided to allow Ukraine to conduct long-range strikes within Russian territory, the Kremlin has said, adding that Moscow would have an “appropriate” response if that happened.

Ukraine has long pressed the U.S. and the U.K. to drop the restriction on long-range weapons being used for strikes inside Russia over concerns that this would escalate the war.

Kyiv says it needs long-range weapons such as ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) to target air bases used by Russia’s warplanes that launch glide bombs against Ukraine often from deep inside Russian territory. British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles with a range of around 150 miles have been used against Russian targets in occupied Ukrainian territory only.

When asked if Washington would drop the restrictions, President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that his administration was “working that out now.”

However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that “most likely, of course, all these decisions have already been made,” by the West regarding dropping the prohibition on long-range weapons, the state news agency Tass reported.

“This can be assumed with a high degree of probability,” Peskov told Russian media. “At the moment, the media is simply conducting such an information campaign to formalize the decision that has already been made,” he added.

“Efforts are ongoing by the U.S. and European governments to distance themselves from involvement in this conflict,” Peskov said. “U.S. and European involvement in Ukraine is becoming more direct.”

If Ukraine were given permission to use weapons for strikes deep into Russia, Peskov said that Moscow would come up with “an appropriate response,” although he added “there is no need to expect some kind of response everywhere.”

David Silbey, military expert and history professor at Cornell University, said the dispute over allowing Kyiv to use long-range weapons echoes the tensions within the U.S.-Ukrainian relationship during the war.

“The U.S. has slowly allowed deeper and deeper strikes to hit Russian targets, especially now that the Ukrainians have mounted a land campaign inside of Russia itself,” he told Newsweek.

“The Russians have reacted by shifting tactics, most notably firing ordnance from outside Ukrainian airspace, like short range ballistic missiles and glide bombs, and now the Ukrainians are pushing for another shift in U.S. limits.”

He said Biden’s comment “is a classic Washington signaling tactic that they’re beginning to shift on that limit as well.”

Vyacheslav Volodin, the chair of Russia’s Duma, the lower house of Parliament, had earlier accused Washington and the U.K. of “becoming parties to the war in Ukraine.” He said that such a move means that Russia “will be forced to respond using more powerful and destructive weapons to protect its citizens.”

When asked for comment, the British Foreign Office told Newsweek “there has been no change in the U.K.’s position,” and referred to Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s comments to media that “we need to listen to the Ukrainians, to understand the plan, to understand the strategy, to understand the needs across a whole range of fronts.”

Newsweek has contacted the State Department for comment.

On Tuesday, Senator Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, posted on X, formerly Twitter, a letter he co-signed with other lawmakers, calling for Biden to lift restrictions on the long-range weapons, writing, “we need to remove the handcuffs and give Ukraine every advantage.”

The issue will be a focus of Secretary of State Antony Blinken‘s visit to Kyiv and Lammy. Biden is also likely to discuss the issue with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer when they meet in Washington on Friday.

Source