The US has restricted Ukraine’s use of US-provided long-range missiles in strike deep in Russia since late spring 2025 amid Trump administration’s efforts to get Vladimir Putin in peace talks, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday citing unnamed US officials.
According to the report, the Pentagon blocked Ukraine from launching US ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems) long-range missile on at least one occasion under the stern “review mechanism” put in place to keep Kyiv from launching strikes deep into Russia. ATACMS have a range of 305 kilometers. Developed by the Pentagon’s undersecretary for policy, Elbridge Colby, the mechanism passes decisions on the use of US-supplied long-range missiles, as well as those provided by Western allies that rely on US intelligence and components. The review system also covers British Storm Shadow cruise missiles provided to Ukraine to help Kyiv fight Russia’s war of invasion launched in February 2022. The review process gives US defense secretary Pete Hegseth approval over the use of ATACMS long-range missiles. Ukraine was first authorized to use ATACMS in strikes deep in Russia by Job Biden in November last year following North Korean troops’ stationing in Russia’s Kursk region. In January, US President Donald Trump expressed his disagreement over the Biden administration’s decision regarding long-range missiles, describing it as an escalation of the war with Russia.
It’s unclear whether the introduction of review process over Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles amounts to a policy shift in Washington. Officials in Kyiv and the White House have not commented on the report yet.
The news of the blocking Ukraine from striking deep inside Russia came amid growing frustration amid the Trump administration over lack of progress to secure peace deal to end the over three-year-old war. The Putin-Trump summit in Alaska in mid-August, followed by the meeting between Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskiy and EU leaders in Washington yielded almost no result in ending the war. On Thursday, Trump ramped up rhetoric on Ukraine-Russia war, suggesting Kyiv to “play offense” in the war. “It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invader’s country,” Trump posted on Truth Social. The following day, the US leader renewed threats against Russia, saying economic sanctions would be imposed on the Kremlin if no progress is made towards the peace deal.
