Why the US and the UK are at odds about allowing Ukraine to strike targets deep inside Russia

Zelenskyy has long argued that the ability to hit targets deep within Russia is crucial to defend Ukraine.

“We need sufficient range to defend Ukraine from Russian missiles and guided aerial bombs, to prevent the transfer of Russian troops, and to counter the occupier’s pressure on key frontlines,” he said in August.

Ukraine is particularly keen to target Russian air bases where aircraft used to drop missiles and glide bombs on Ukraine are stationed.

But one unnamed Biden administration official told Politico earlier this month that Russia had moved targets out of range of Western-donated missiles like the ATACMS or Storm Shadow.

An unnamed senior administration official added that “90% of the planes that launch glide bombs” from Russian airspace had already been relocated out of range of those missiles, the report said.

The Institute for the Study of War said that while it had “observed confirmation of redeployments of Russian aircraft,” it did “not reduce the importance of allowing Ukraine to use ATACMS against hundreds of other Russian military objects.”

Despite the limits imposed by the West, Ukraine has still claimed some success in carrying out deep strikes in Russia using drones.

In July, Ukraine said it had struck a Russian Tu-22M3 supersonic bomber at Olenya airbase in Murmansk, 1,100 miles inside Russian territory, while in May, Ukraine’s Security Service said a long-range Ukrainian drone struck a Gazprom oil refinery roughly 930 miles away.