President Joe Biden is “not ruling out” allowing Ukraine to fire missiles deep into Russian territory, the US secretary of state has told Sky News.
Anthony Blinken made the comment after he told a news conference in London that Iran has provided Moscow with short-range missiles and Vladimir Putin will “likely use them within weeks in Ukraine”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been calling on the US and other Western allies to allow Ukraine to use long-range missiles to hit targets in Russia to intensify pressure on Moscow to end the war.
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In a sit-down interview with Yalda Hakim for her Sky News show The World, Mr Blinken was asked whether the US president might consider allowing such a move as the conflict rages on.
Mr Blinken said the US has made sure Ukraine has had “what it needed, when it needed it, to be effective in repelling the Russian aggression” since Moscow’s forces invaded in February 2022.
But he added that Washington has also had to consider other factors, such as whether Ukraine’s forces can use the “sophisticated systems” Western allies are providing and whether they can maintain them.
He continued: “All of those things have to go into these decisions. But what I can tell you is we’ve adapted and adjusted every step along the way and we’ll continue – so not ruling out at this stage.
“We don’t. We never rule out. But when we rule in, we want to make sure it’s done in such a way that it can advance what the Ukrainians are trying to achieve.”
The US delivered a small number of ATACMs, meaning Army Tactical Missile System, in September last year.
The long-range missiles have a range of about 180 miles.
