It may take Biden administration a few weeks to let Ukraine strike deep inside Russia

The United States may change its stance on the prohibition for Ukraine to use US weapons to strike deep into Russian territory in a few weeks, The Times said citing sources in the British government.

Washington may allow Kyiv to strike deep into Russia before the UN General Assembly meeting in New York on September 22-23.

Representatives of the US administration have allegedly changed their view on the matter, but they still have to convince President Biden and others, The Times wrote.

France and Great Britain support the use of long-range missiles for strikes on Russian territory, but it is important for Kyiv to receive US permission for technical reasons related to targeting.

Earlier in September, Michael McCaul, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Axios that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, when visiting Kyiv, would give Ukraine permission to strike Russia with ATACMS missiles.

The administration of US President Joe Biden has split over the issue of Ukraine receiving permission to strike deep into Russia with long-range weapons, The Financial Times said.

The State Department has been more receptive to arguments from Ukraine and many of its Western allies, whereas the Pentagon and the US intelligence community remain opposed to the use of long-range weapons in the Russian rear, the newspaper said.

Joe Biden voiced remarks about permission for Ukraine to use US long-range weapons to strike targets deep inside Russia, but the statement was made amid debate within his administration, the newspaper wrote. For example, the Pentagon took note of Russia's recent move to redeploy its warplanes to airfields located outside the range of ATACMS missiles.

Details

The MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System is a supersonic tactical ballistic missile designed and manufactured by the US defense company Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV), and later Lockheed Martin through acquisitions. It uses solid propellant and is 13 feet (4.0 m) long and 24 inches (610 mm) in diameter, and the longest-range variants can fly up to 190 miles (300 km). The missiles can be fired from the tracked M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) and the wheeled M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). An ATACMS launch container (pod) has one rocket but a lid patterned with six circles like a standard MLRS rocket lid to prevent an enemy from discerning what type of missile is loaded.