Permission to fire long range missiles into Russia.
MAY 27, 2025
Many senior military leaders have stated Ukraine should have had permission to fire long range missiles into Russia long ago. Permission should never have been restricted under Biden, Johnson, Macron and Sholtz. However, war and politics is a high stakes game. Europe and the USA had a fear of winning the war for Ukraine quickly and decisively, but this might have been influenced by a realisation that ammunition stocks they held were insufficient for their own needs, let alone defending Ukraine. We are all wise in hindsight.
This change of attitude appears to have been led by Chancellor Merz with the support of the alliance of the willing. Recent failures in ceasefire negotiations have removed some resistance from the USA and proved beyond doubt Putin’s unchanged position and lack of good faith.
Ukraine now dominates the air space over its own territory and also controls the front-line areas with an enormous numbers of drones manufactured at home. 155mm artillery shells are pouring into Ukraine from Europe and USA, allowing Ukraine to match Russian artillery firepower. Western supplied tanks have increased crew survival and vehicle recovery rates while Russian armour finds it increasingly difficult to deploy on the battlefield without being destroyed. Much has improved since 2022. Europe has increased military funding and created a growing manufacturing base to enlarge their own defence stocks and supply Ukraine.
Long-range missiles that will now fire into Russia include the German Taurus, USA ATACMS, British Storm Shadow, and French Scalp-EG.
The Taurus cruise missiles, fired by fighter jets, are roughly the same length and weight as the UK’s Storm Shadows and France’s Scalp-EG but have a range of 500 km. This is 250km farther than British and French counterparts.
What sets the German Taurus missile apart is its Mephisto intelligent warhead system. Mephisto can penetrate several layers of material before initiation of its 480kg warhead, ensuring maximum damage to multi-level building, bridges, and bunkers.
Britain has allocated a large number of its 850 Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine and is speeding up their replacement. France previously had stockpiles of up to 460 Scalp missiles before deliveries to Ukraine. The numbers remaining in France are confidential, but Germany holds 600 Taurus missiles with 150 ready for immediate use. In combination with the UK and France that is almost 1950 missiles: a truly significant number.
The US started supplying Ukraine with ballistic missiles last year., ATACMS the Army Tactical Missile System. ATACMS are fired from launchers on the ground and have a maximum range of 300km. Those in Ukraine are older missiles with a range of 165km. Unless the USA supply the longer-range models their change in policy might simply be window dressing, but the unified agreement of the other nations received an immediate response from Russia, who once again accused the west of ‘Escalation’ and ‘Serious consequences.’ We’ve heard that toom many times.
The strike range and improvement from Taurus cruise missiles will add 250km of range to attacks. Although Ukrainian drones already reach 1200km into Russia they do not have the same destructive power. Cruise missiles hitting deep underground ammo stores and aircraft in bunkers will extend Russian supply lines and force back their military airfields seriously reducing their time over targets in Ukraine.
The effect of this change in policy removes a pointless restriction on Ukraine which prevented them from maximising immediate intelligence to strike important targets. The Russian knew this and simply kept their main assets beyond range.
The main benefit is Russian forces will have to move back farther from the front lines. Targets than might have been out of range are now open to strikes by cruise missiles. Targets like Kerch Bridge and the Russian fleet which retreated 120km previously from Sevastopol to the port of Novorossiysk. It is hard to see another deep-water port anywhere in the Black Sea where they retreat to. Marine drones have already penetrated defences in the waters of Novorossiysk, now the remaining fleet will become sitting ducks.
If there are positives to draw from the past three years, they are the invasion was a timely reminder of how weak and flabby NATO had become. Ukraine’s courage has provided Europe with time to begin repairing that damage. Finland and Sweden are now NATO members preventing them for being cut off from herd and eaten.
A sense of realism that has returned to foreign policy. A realism that understands the deadly consequences inherent in military weakness. Politicians who don’t understand the human propensity towards evil who hold too much power, are destined for disaster.
Slava Ukraini!
Who Dares Shares
Robin Horsfall
“We are all wise in hindsight.”
No, not all are wise in hindsight. Many were wise from the beginning. But, their (and our) voices were ignored. Fear, cowardice, and ignorance won over intelligence, courage, and steadfastness. The costs were only increased, with the problem never even close to being solved. In particular, Ukraine had to pay the highest cost … with pools of blood.