The Biden administration’s decision to allow Ukraine to strike inside Russia with U.S.-made weapons fulfills a long-standing wish of officials in kyiv that they said was essential to level the playing field.
The policy change followed statements by nearly a dozen European governments and Canada that their weapons could be used to fire on Russia.
Freed from those limitations, Ukraine can attack Russia with SCALP missiles from France and, potentially soon, the identical Storm Shadow missiles supplied by Britain. Although British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said on May 3 that Ukraine should be able to attack Russia with Western weapons, London has not yet given its full permission, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine told The Guardian in a published interview. on Friday.
The SCALP and Storm Shadow missiles have a range of about 150 miles and are fired from Ukraine’s aging fleet of Soviet-designed fighter jets.
Several countries (Britain, Germany, Norway and the United States) have provided Ukraine with ground-based launchers that can fire longer-range missiles. Those systems are known as HIMARS and MLRS launchers, and they can also fire the U.S.-made Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, which have a range of up to 190 miles.
However, in revealing the new policy, US officials said their policy would not allow the use of ATACMS or long-range missiles that can penetrate deep into Russia. Germany has also so far refused to donate its Taurus missile, with a range of 310 miles, partly out of fear it would be fired deep into Russia and escalate the war. Now it is even less likely to do so, Rafael Loss, an arms expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said in an interview Thursday.
In addition, Britain, Canada and the United States have supplied Ukraine with medium-range missiles or small-diameter ground bombs that can reach Russia at a distance of 50 to 90 miles.
But the new authorizations may have their biggest impact in the war for air superiority, especially if allies allow their donated planes and drones to attack within Russian airspace.
On Friday, the Dutch Foreign Minister said Ukraine could use the 24 F-16 fighter jets that the Netherlands has committed to flying to Russian territory on war missions.
“If you have the right to self-defense, there are no borders to the use of weapons,” said Minister Hanke Bruins Slot, before a meeting of NATO’s top diplomats in Prague. “This is a general principle.”
It is unclear whether Denmark would allow the 19 F-16s it is sending to Ukraine to fly into Russian airspace, where they could be shot down. At least four other countries (Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and North Macedonia) have provided Soviet-era fighter jets. Britain and Türkiye have sent long-range attack drones that could also fly directly to Russia.
At the very least, said Loss, the weapons expert, the soon-arriving fleet of F-16s would be equipped with long-range missiles that could target Russian aircraft “from behind their border,” with implications for Ukraine’s future air transport. . force.
“We’re not there yet,” he said, noting that Ukrainian pilots had yet to master the fighter jet with enough skill to counter Russia’s advantage. “But there is some possibility that Ukraine’s future F-16 fleet will attack Russian territory.”