Washington is now expected to grant permission for Ukraine to use Storm Shadow missiles, given that Kiev has already deployed US-supplied weapons against targets in Russia, and its previous objections are said to have been dropped, sources said.
Any successful use of Storm Shadow missiles would be impossible without American navigational data, the newspaper reported. It referred to claims about Russia drafting North Korean soldiers as a "turning point" that made Washington reconsider its policy.
The New York Times reported on Sunday, citing unnamed US administration officials, that President Joe Biden had for the first time authorized Ukraine to use US-made long-range missiles, such as ATACMS, to strike deep into Russia. Le Figaro initially reported that France and the UK had also allowed Ukraine to use their long-range weapons to attack Russia but later removed this information from its article.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the move as escalatory and pointed to Russian President Vladimir Putin's position on long-range strikes against Russia. Putin said in September that potential use of long-range Western weapons by Kiev would change the nature of the conflict in Ukraine, forcing Russia to respond to emerging threats.