US won't give Ukraine long-range missiles if UK does – Politico

The United States will not send Ukraine long-range missiles, as the United Kingdom has apparently agreed to do, Politico reports.

Earlier, the Washington Post revealed that London was allegedly ready to send to Ukraine Storm Shadow missiles, with a range of nearly 300 kilometres, called for the United States to follow suit.

Should the UK provide Ukraine with long-range weapons, the US would be ‘off the hook’, as it has previously held, people familiar with the matter told Politico.

Joe Biden's administration believes the UK’s move is likely to appease critics who demand long-range missiles for Ukraine from Western allies.

The White House, which has been called upon more than once to provide Ukraine with ATACMS, has ruled that possibility out, unofficially because it feared Kyiv would use the missiles to strike Russian territory.

Officially, chairman of US joint chiefs of staff Mark Milley has argued that Washington itself does not have as many ATACMS missiles as needed.