Washington is ready to allow Ukraine to use Storm Shadow, but not ATACMS, to strike Russia - media

Washington will soon announce that Ukraine will be authorized to use British and French Storm Shadow missiles to strike deep into Russia. However, the White House does not authorize such strikes using ATACMS missiles. This was reported by Time and UNN, citing its own sources.

Details

President Biden may decide to give the green light to the use of Storm Shadow missiles and their French equivalent, Scalp missiles, to strike targets in Russia on the grounds that the United Kingdom and France support such a move

However, the U.S. will not allow Ukraine to launch its version of ATACMS, a long-range ballistic missile against targets across the border, hoping to prevent further escalation of the conflict.

Sources from various governments explained that they believe that the proposed policy is likely to be adopted after a meeting in Kyiv on Wednesday between Zelenskiy, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, and David Lammy, the British Foreign Secretary.

One of the interlocutors also noted that this option will be discussed between Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, and Biden in Washington on Friday.

Addendum

 The publication noted that the UK and France support the lifting of restrictions on Ukraine's use of its long-range weapons, but so far the Americans have been blocking this change due to fears of escalation.

Nevertheless, Iran's delivery of more than Fath-360 missiles to Russia played a role in convincing some high-ranking officials in the West that an urgent change in policy was needed.

Meanwhile, Ben Barry, a senior research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies on Land Warfare , explained that this is only a "half-solution" to the problem.

This is less than Ukraine asked for, but it is better than nothing (...). It increases the risk of escalation against Britain and France, but not against the United States

According to him, the Storm Shadow was most useful against hard targets such as bunkers and air cover. Instead, it is the American missiles that are more effective against a range of targets on the battlefield.

They have a warhead designed to explode on the surface, so they are very good for targets like artillery batteries, division headquarters, ammunition depots, and anti-aircraft missile sites. It's not as useful against targets that Storm Shadow is useful for. (...) It's like comparing a knife and a fork, you can use both, but you're better off using both together

Recall

Politico reports that the White House is finalizing a plan to ease some restrictions on Ukraine's use of U.S.-provided weapons and better protect it from Russian missiles.