Ukraine is urging allies, including the UK, to allow Kyiv’s forces to use weapons they’ve supplied to hit military warhouses within Russia. It comes amid speculation that Iran has provided Vladimir Putin‘s invading army with ballistic missiles.
Western countries who have backed Kyiv with military and financial aid since the war began in February 2022 have previously rejected calls to allow Ukraine to hit targets in Russia, amid fears it could provoke a wider war involving NATO.
But in a four-word plea, Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian presidential office urged allies to reconsider, saying “protection is not escalation”.
In a post on Telegram, he wrote: “In response to the supply of ballistic missiles to Russia, Ukraine must be allowed to destroy warehouses storing these missiles with Western weapons in order to avoid terror.”
He did not spefically refer to which country was allegedly providing the weapons to Putin‘s forces.
It comes after a Ukrainian source told Sky News on Saturday short-range Fatah-360 missiles had been delivered from Tehran to a port in the Caspian Sea by a Russian vessel.
Two sources told the Associated Press news agency that Washington has also told allies it believes Iran sent short-range ballistic missiles to Russia to support its war effort.
Iran has been providing Russia with its Shahed drones – relatively cheap and unmanned craft often used for “kamikaze” bombings – since 2022, and the addition of possible Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia‘s arsenal has worried governments in the West.
The rockets would enable Kremlin forces to strike Ukrainian cities close to the Russian borders or areas already under their control, while unleashing longer-range missiles deeper into Ukraine, BBC News reports.
Earlier on Wednesday, Tehran denied the missile reports, and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that: “this kind of information is not true every time”, as per Sky News.
This week US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with the UK’s foreign secretary David Lammy in London, and revealed President Joe Biden is “not ruling out” allowing Ukraine to use its missiles deeper within Russia, in a major policy shift.
Antony Blinken made the remarks at a news conference in the capital, where he warned that short-range weapons Iran is said to have transferred are likely to be used in Ukraine “within weeks”.
Moscow is yet to comment on Blinken’s warning, but Putin has previously warned that an move of this kind would lead to “very serious problems”.
When asked whether Ukraine would be given permission to Storm Shadow missiles supplied by the UK in Russia, Mr Lammy said: “It’s hugely important that we’re travelling together to hear from our Ukrainian counterparts and President Zelensky their assessment of the situation on the ground and their needs on the ground.
“It would, however, be quite wrong to comment on the detail of operational issues in a forum such as this, because the only person who could benefit is Putin, and we will do nothing to give him any advantage in his illegal invasion,” he added.