 "Trump denies report of US approval for Ukraine's strikes inside Russia")
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (local time) dismissed a Wall Street Journal report claiming that Washington had authorised Ukraine to carry out missile strikes deep within Russian territory, distancing itself from Kyiv’s attacks using British long-range missiles that targeted Russian military installations.
Trump was responding to the report that had pointed out that the US could restrict Ukraine’s use of the British-supplied Storm Shadow cruise missiles, as they rely on American data.
What did Trump say?
“The Wall Street Journal story on the USA’s approval of Ukraine being allowed to use long range missiles deep into Russia is FAKE NEWS!” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.
“The US has nothing to do with those missiles, wherever they may come from, or what Ukraine does with them,” he added.
Ukraine confirms strike on Russian facility
Ukraine’s General Staff said on Tuesday that it had used air-launched Storm Shadow missiles to hit a chemical plant in Russia’s Bryansk region. The plant, it said, produces gunpowder, explosives, and rocket fuel used in weapons deployed against Ukraine.
Report says restrictions lifted on Ukraine’s long-range missiles
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Trump administration had removed a crucial restriction on Ukraine’s use of certain long-range missiles supplied by Western allies.
The publication cited two anonymous US officials who said that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (Nato's) top commander, General Alexus Grynkewich, also head of the US European Command, had recently assumed authority for supporting such attacks from US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Policy shift from the Biden administration
The report noted that former president Joe Biden had permitted Ukraine to use Storm Shadow and US-made Atacms missiles against targets within Russia towards the end of his tenure. After Trump took office, however, the Pentagon introduced a review process to assess cross-border strikes involving US missiles or foreign weapons reliant on American targeting data.
Under this system, the defence secretary had the final authority to approve the use of Western long-range weapons by Ukraine to hit targets in Russia. No such strikes were authorised until recently, when that power was reportedly returned to the European Command.
Russia-Ukraine conflict
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, describing it as an operation aimed at countering Kyiv’s westward alignment and what Moscow views as Nato’s eastward expansion. Kyiv and its European partners have denounced the invasion as an imperial-style land grab.