- Biden considers easing Ukraine’s missile use limits
- Ukraine seeks US long-range missiles for defense
- Sanctions on Iran increase over missile supply to Russia
President Joe Biden has signaled that Washington will ease limits on Ukraine’s use of US long-range missiles against Russia.
If allowed, it would meet Ukraine’s repeated pleas to lift restrictions on US-supplied weapons, which authorities have claimed have left them battling Russia’s full-fledged invasion with their hands tied.
Russia has yet to respond, although President Vladimir Putin has already stated that any action may result in “serious problems.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his UK equivalent, Foreign Secretary David Lammy, are in Kyiv to address the situation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Blinken stated that one of their priorities before the visit was to “hear directly from the Ukrainian leadership” about their “objectives and what we can do to support those needs.
Following their conversations in London, Blinken and Lammy flew together to the Ukrainian capital.
During his visit to the United Kingdom, Blinken accused Iran of sending short-range ballistic missiles to Russia, claiming they might be used against Ukrainians within weeks. Lammy criticized Iran’s move as “a significant and dangerous escalation.”
The missiles are anticipated to strengthen Russia’s arsenal, allowing it to strike Ukrainian cities close to its borders or territories it already controls while deploying longer-range missiles deeper into Ukrainian territory.
Iran has frequently denied providing such self-guided weaponry to Russia.
The capacity to fire long-range weaponry against Russian targets would allow Kyiv to retaliate against Moscow’s use of cheap but lethal “glide bombs,” which have proven devastating to Ukrainian forces in recent months.
These are frequently launched from air bases deep within Russian territory. Ukraine demands the right to attack and destroy them, but it is now unable to do so with US weapons systems.
On Tuesday, President Biden told reporters that his administration was “working that out now” when asked if the US would ease limitations on Ukraine’s use of long-range weaponry.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the US has been hesitant to supply or allow the use of weapons capable of striking targets deep within Russia for fear of exacerbating the conflict.
It has, however, relaxed some of the restrictions on such missile use, allowing Ukraine to launch long-range missiles against regions along Russia’s border from which troops are firing.
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Kyiv’s other partners have also started delivering certain long-range missiles, with restrictions on how and when they can be deployed within Russia due to concerns that such strikes will inspire retaliation, drawing Nato countries into the fight or sparking a nuclear confrontation.
In recent months, President Zelensky has questioned the pace of arms deliveries and requested permission to strike targets deep inside Russia using Western-supplied missiles, a move that the US has so far opposed.
Russia’s President Putin also warned earlier this year that Ukraine’s strikes on Russia with Western missiles could spark a more significant conflict.
“Constant escalation can lead to serious consequences,” he remarked in May. “Do they want a global conflict?”
He warned that Western weaponry suppliers would bear responsibility for any strikes inside Russian territory, even if Ukrainian forces conducted them out.
Separately, on Tuesday, the US, UK, France, and Germany placed further sanctions on Iran for supplying Russia with ballistic missiles for use in Ukraine.
The measures included limits on Iran Air’s ability to fly to the UK and Europe, as well as travel bans and asset freezes on several Iranians accused of enabling Russian military support.
