Blinken: Joe Biden Does Not Rule Out Allowing Ukraine to Fire Missiles Deep into Russia

On Tuesday, the Secretary of State USA Antony Blinken confirmed earlier media reports that in early September Iran he delivered Russia hundreds of Fath 360 ballistic missiles with a range of up to 120 kilometers. The U.S. has long warned Tehran that it would consider such an action a “dramatic escalation” of its involvement in war in UkraineAccording to the United States, the two countries signed a missile sales agreement in late 2023, and Russian soldiers underwent training in the use of the weapons this summer. Blinken said he expected Russia to use the new weapon soon, which would allow it to step up its bombing of Ukrainian cities.

In turn, the president Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky calls on the US and other Western allies to allow Kiev to use long-range missiles to strike targets in Russia to increase pressure on Moscow to end the war.

On Tuesday, in an interview with Sky News, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was asked whether the US president might consider authorizing such a move in the face of the ongoing war. The US foreign secretary said the US had ensured that Ukraine had “what it needs, when it needs it, to effectively repel Russian aggression” since Moscow’s invasion in February 2022.

But he added that Washington also had to consider other factors, such as whether Ukraine's forces could use and sustain advanced systems provided by Western allies. “All of those issues have to factor into those decisions, but I can tell you we've been adapting and we're adapting to the situation every step of the way and we'll continue to do so, so I wouldn't rule it out at this point,” Blinken said.

“We don't rule it out. We never rule it out. But when we order it, we want to make sure it's done in a way that advances what the Ukrainians are trying to achieve,” he added.