The government in Washington has so far been hesitant to supply long-range weapons or to authorize their use against targets deep inside Russia for fear of an escalation of the conflict. Meanwhile, important Republicans in the US parliament called on the government in a letter to allow Ukraine to use long-range missile systems against targets in Russia. This step is “long overdue”. The letter is signed by, among others, the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the US House of Representatives, Michael McCaul.
So far, the USA has limited the use of its weapons against Russia to defending against the Russian offensive against the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. Ukraine has long been asking for the release of long-range weapons made by the USA for use on Russian territory. Kiev’s justification is that this is the only way to reach Russian military airports from which fighter jets take off to drop glide bombs or fire missiles.
However, the ATACMS missiles provided by Washington so far only have a range of around 300 kilometers. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also recently admitted in Ramstein that the Russian military has been moving its fighter jets to other, more distant airfields for some time.