US President Donald Trump denied reports that the US had quietly lifted a key restriction on Ukraine’s use of some Western-supplied long-range missiles on Wednesday.
It came after The Wall Street Journal, citing US officials, said that Washington’s decision would give Kyiv expanded freedom to carry out strikes on targets inside Russia.
Trump wrote on his Truth Social network: “The Wall Street Journal story on the USA’s approval of Ukraine being allowed to use long range missiles deep into Russia is FAKE NEWS!”
“The US has nothing to do with those missiles, wherever they may come from, or what Ukraine does with them!” He continued.
The reports had emerged just one day after Ukraine used a British-supplied Storm Shadow cruise missile to hit a munitions and rocket fuel facility in the Russian city of Bryansk, describing the hit as “successful.”
According to the report, Washington’s decision enabled Kyiv to use the missile.
The shift allegedly followed an internal change in authority at the Pentagon, as oversight for approving such attacks was transferred from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, the top US general in Europe who also serves as NATO commander.
Grynkewich previously told a Senate confirmation hearing that he believed Ukraine could win the war against Russia.
Washington officials cited by the Wall Street Journal said that they expect Ukraine to expand its campaign of cross-border attacks using the Storm Shadow. The US can restrict Ukraine’s use of the missile because it uses American targeting data.
Storm Shadows have a far shorter range than US Tomahawks, which Trump had said he was mulling supplying to Kyiv before abruptly pouring cold water on the proposal.
This, and the fact that Tuesday was not the first occasion on which they had been used, means that renewed use of Storm Shadows is not expected to fundamentally alter battlefield conditions.
However, they still provide the opportunity for Kyiv to expand its attacks on Russian soil, and before Trump’s denial some had speculated it may be a sign that Washington is hardening its stance toward Moscow amid rumors of a rift after negotiations appeared to fall through earlier this week.
Towards the end of his term, former President Joe Biden approved Ukraine’s use of both the Storm Shadow and US ATACMS missiles for limited attacks on targets inside Russia.
Trump’s second term spelled the end of this decision as the Pentagon instituted a vetting process requiring top-level approval for any cross-border strikes involving US missiles or those from other countries, including the Storm Shadow, that are assisted by US targeting data.
This meant that the Defense Secretary could veto strikes on Russia using Western long-range weapons.
No attacks had been signed off until recently, when authority for approving such attacks was moved back to European Command, according to two US officials speaking to the Journal.
The decision to lift the restriction on Storm Shadow was made before President Volodymyr Zelensky’s meeting with Trump at the White House last week, they said.