Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, wants his western allies to allow the use of their Storm Shadow missiles to bomb targets inside Russia.
Dan Sabbagh, the Guardian’s defence and security editor, tells Michael Safi why US president Joe Biden’s decision over the missiles is a delicate one.
“They allow you to strike deep into another country in a way that changes the political calculus as much as it changes the military calculus,” Dan says.
“So you’re thinking about airfields, missile launch sites, military sites, logistics sites, but you get something wrong, and you kill a lot of civilians, you’re starting to be in a very different discussion … And I think the US has been worried that Russia might escalate dramatically if certain types of western weapons are given to Ukraine.”
On Russian state television last week, the president, Vladimir Putin, said: “This would in a significant way change the very nature of the conflict. It would mean that Nato countries, the US, European countries, are at war with Russia.”
Is Putin bluffing or is this really his red line?
Photograph: Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Kremlin Poo/Planet Pix/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock
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