No formal request from Britain for Ukraine to deploy missiles, White House source tells The Telegraph

The White House has denied reports that it is blocking Britain’s request for Ukraine to use missiles against targets in Russia, The Telegraph reports, citing a source. A Biden administration official told The Telegraph there was no formal request for Ukraine to fire those missiles across the Russian border, which would require the use of some US-made systems.

Despite Ukraine’s appeals, Western countries, including the US and the UK, have limited Ukraine’s use of their long-range weapons such as ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles to prevent deep strikes inside Russia, ostensibly to avoid escalation. Amid ongoing Russian offensives along the entire front line in Ukraine, the Ukrainian army began an incursion into Russia’s Kursk Oblast more than a week ago and now controls significant parts of two districts in the region.

Earlier, the Times reported that the US is preventing Britain from allowing Ukraine to deploy Storm Shadow missiles in Russia. According to the Times, the British government turned to the US over a month ago with a request to ease restrictions on Ukraine’s use of long-range weapons. However, there has been no response to this request yet, and the issue is effectively “stuck in their system”, a British government source told The Times.

Ukrainian politicians, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, have argued that the missiles would allow Ukraine to attack key targets behind the front line, such as airfields, ammunition depots and Russian command posts. Kyiv is particularly keen to prevent Russian jets from launching glide bombs.

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