President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy is ending his visit to the United States without having received permission to use long-range missiles to strike Russia. This was reported by The Times, according to Komersant ukrainskyi
According to the newspaper, during meetings with President Biden and Vice President Harris, Zelensky asked to lift restrictions on the use of Storm Shadow and ATACMS missiles to attack military targets deep in Russia.
However, Washington’s position on this issue has not changed. Zelenskyy received the latest “no” shortly after Putin said that a large-scale air attack on Russia could lead to a nuclear response.
Despite this, the US continues to support Ukraine. Biden announced a new military aid package worth about $8 billion.
Zelenskyy also discussed the issue of long-range missiles with US senators, including Lindsey Graham, who supported the idea.
The New York Times, in turn, reported that Biden was also advised not to authorise deep strikes by intelligence. They allegedly analysed everything and concluded that Ukraine would still not get the desired effect from such a permit, at least because… it does not have enough appropriate weapons (apparently, the US is not considering the option of providing Ukraine with enough weapons). But the risk of a nuclear response from Russia is growing, and especially the risk of another lethal response from Russia against the United States or its coalition allies is growing, they believe.
Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, when asked when the decision Ukraine needs could be made, said:
“I expect that in the coming days and weeks we will be in a very strong position to provide Ukraine with everything it needs.”
Western weapons and permits for their use
As is well known, the US(and Germany after them) allow the use of weapons provided by them only for strikes on the border territories of Russia. This permission was granted by US President Joe Biden only at the end of May, and before that, strikes on Russian territory with US weapons were prohibited altogether.
However, towards the end of June, the US side made unofficial statements that the restrictions “do not apply to geography or a certain radius”. This was interpreted as meaning that Ukraine could allegedly strike at those facilities and territories from which attacks on Ukraine are directly directed, even if they are deeper than the border areas. But it has recently emerged that this may also mean that Ukraine is not allowed to strike certain targets even in the occupied territories.
According to experts, border strikes will not change the situation at the front, so from May to the present day, Zelenskyy has been asking his partners for permission to strike Russian territory with their weapons. Some Western countries have already given such permission.