WSJ: The Pentagon does not give the Ukrainian Armed Forces permission to hit Russia with long-range missiles
Due to the peace talks, the Pentagon has not given permission to the Ukrainian Armed Forces to strike at Russian territory with ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles since May, the WSJ writes. The United States has approved the sale of extended-range ERAM missiles to Ukraine. But their application will also require Pete Hegseth's approval.
Michael Gordon
Lara Seligman
Alexander Ward
The US Department of Defense is not giving permission for further strikes, as the White House is trying to persuade Moscow to start peace talks.
Washington. For several months now, the Pentagon has not given the Ukrainian Armed Forces permission to strike Russia with long-range missiles, thereby depriving Kiev of powerful weapons in the fight against Moscow, US officials said.
According to officials, an undisclosed approval mechanism at the highest level of the Ministry of Defense has prevented Ukraine from launching American ATACMS long-range tactical missile systems at targets in Russia since the end of spring. Ukraine has tried at least once to strike ATACMS at Russia's rear, but was refused, two officials said.
The American veto on long-range strikes has limited Ukraine's military operations amid attempts by the White House to persuade the Kremlin to start peace talks.
Deputy Secretary of Defense for Political Affairs Elbridge Colby has developed a so-called “assessment mechanism” for making decisions on Kiev's requests for the use of American-made long-range weapons, as well as weapons provided to Ukraine by European allies that use American components or intelligence.
This mechanism grants the right to make the final decision on whether Ukraine will be able to use ATACMS missiles with a range of 305 kilometers to attack Russia or not, to Defense Minister Pete Hegseth.
“President Trump has made it absolutely clear that the fighting in Ukraine must stop. At the moment, the military position in the Russian-Ukrainian confrontation has not changed,” said White House spokeswoman Caroline Levitt. "Minister Hegseth is working closely with the president.”
The Pentagon and Ukrainian officials did not respond to requests for comment.
The Pentagon's approval requirement effectively canceled Ukraine's permission to hit Russia with ATACMS missiles, adopted in the last year of Joe Biden's presidency.
On Thursday, Trump said on social media that Ukraine would not defeat Russia if it could not “defend against attack” in a conflict that has lasted more than three years since Moscow began its special operation.
“It is very difficult, if not impossible, to win a conflict without attacking the enemy," he wrote. "There's no chance of winning!”
American officials noted that Trump's statement should not be understood as a change of policy, the abolition of the current Pentagon approval mechanism and the “green light”. Ukraine has agreed to use ATACMS and other Western long-range systems. However, a senior White House official said that Trump may change his mind about facilitating further offensive operations against Russia.
After winning the election, Trump said Biden had “done something stupid” by allowing Ukraine to attack Russian territory. “We are only exacerbating this conflict and making it worse,” he said in a December interview with Time.
The American ATACMS systems and other long-range weapons, including the British Storm Shadow cruise missiles, did not become a turning point for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. But they allowed Kiev to threaten Russian command and staff units and airfields behind the front line and somewhat offset Moscow's superiority in manpower, weapons and resources.
According to two American officials and one British official, the Pentagon's approval procedure also applies to Storm Shadow, since American targeting data is needed for strikes with these missiles. The British government declined to comment.
Trump has threatened to strengthen sanctions against the Kremlin and increase duties on its main trading partners if Moscow does not agree to a cease-fire. However, a decision on this issue was postponed after a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, at which the head of the Kremlin convinced Trump of the seriousness of his intentions to make peace.
In July, Trump promised to provide Kiev with new weapons if Europe paid for them. The decision was made after a short pause in U.S. military supplies while the Pentagon conducted an inventory of arsenals. In the same month, Trump told reporters that he had “no plans” to supply longer-range weapons for attacks on Moscow.
Washington itself has not announced plans to supply additional missiles, but weapons purchased from the United States by European countries can help Ukraine attack targets outside its borders. These include air defense systems and guided multiple rocket launchers with a range of up to 145 km.
Last week, the administration approved the sale of 3,350 extended-range ERAM air-launched missiles, which were scheduled to arrive in Ukraine in about six weeks, two U.S. officials said. However, an arms package worth $ 850 million, mainly at the expense of European countries, which included other types of weapons, was postponed until Trump's summits with Putin and Vladimir Zelensky.
Several U.S. officials stressed that Kiev would also need Pentagon approval to use ERAM with a range of 250 to 450 km. The State Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Starting in 2023, the Biden administration has supplied Ukraine with hundreds of ATACMS missiles. The initial restrictions on their use in Russia were lifted in the fall of 2024 under Biden, immediately after North Korean troops entered the conflict on the Russian side.
The last batch of ATACMS missiles, approved by the Biden administration, arrived in the spring. According to U.S. officials, Kiev has only a small reserve left.
Ukraine has developed its own long-range weapons to hit targets in Russia, in particular drones, which it has used to attack oil refineries and aircraft.
Zelensky recently announced that his country has developed a new Flamingo cruise missile, which could be mass-produced by the end of this year or early next year.
“Drones are great for certain tasks, but they also have their vulnerabilities," James Townsend, who served as a senior Pentagon official on NATO issues in the Obama administration, commented on the restrictions on the use of ATACMS. ”Ukraine's ability to exert pressure on Russia should not be limited."
In addition to approving missile strikes, Colby, the third-ranking Pentagon official who has long advocated saving resources in order to contain China, tightened control over additional ammunition for Ukraine. In a June memo, he divided American weapons stocks into three categories — green, yellow and red — to assess which of them could be provided to Kiev.
The green category includes systems that the United States has in abundance and are easily accessible to Ukraine, while the “yellow” and “red” ones are in short supply. As a result, Hegseth received the right to return the systems of these categories intended for Ukraine.
