Joe Biden must be ready to send “backup” if he allows Ukraine to use Storm Shadow missiles inside Russia because Vladimir Putin will retaliate, America’s first and only Ukrainian-American congresswoman has said.
The US president is expected to allow Ukraine to use the British-made long-range missiles inside Russia for the first time in the coming days, despite concerns from the Pentagon the move will escalate the war.
The missiles are used alongside American targeting systems, which require US permission to be used outside of Ukrainian territory.
Victoria Spartz, a Ukrainian-American congresswoman from Indiana, told The Telegraph that the move could provoke a response from Russia and that the US should consider deploying “backup”.
“I think Russia needs to understand that there could be serious consequences,” she said.
“If we continue, this war will escalate further and further. And they need to understand that it will be escalating in their territory.
She added: “They’re going to come in to do a couple of shots over there, and there’s going to get all of them hyped up, and then no one is going to backup and it’s going to get even worse.”
Any backup from the US is likely to consist of further weapons, not troops.
On Thursday, Putin said that Ukraine’s use of Western long-range missiles in Russia would amount to a direct conflict between Moscow and Nato.
“This would in a significant way change the very nature of the conflict,” he said. “It would mean that NATO countries are at war with Russia.”
Sir Keir Starmer will discuss Ukraine and the use of missiles with Joe Biden during a meeting in Washington DC on Friday.
The UK has privately pushed for the US to give authorisation for its targeting systems to be used, but has met resistance from the Biden administration.
US analysts have expressed concern that any further escalation of the war could lead to Russia using tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield.
If Russia was to launch a retaliation, it could take place in the Ukrainian Donbass region, where Mr Putin is attempting to recapture territory he took in the early days of the war in February 2022.
Pentagon officials have admitted that Ukraine’s use of long-range warheads, including US-supplied ATACMS missiles, could escalate the conflict.
Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokesman, said last week that escalation was “one thing that we’re always assessing”.
However, the US has become more open to the deployment of the missiles after Russia acquired a new batch of long-range missiles from Iran.
Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, described the move as a “significant and dangerous escalation”.
Ms Spartz’s comments echo concerns that Ukraine may not have the firepower to deal with a Russian retaliation.
Defence sources told The Telegraph that Ukraine has relatively few Storm Shadow missiles left after using many of them to fight Russia in Crimea.
It also has supplies of ATACMS missiles (seen being launched below), which have a similar range, but is not currently allowed to use them outside of its own territory.
Ms Spartz, who was born in the northern Ukrainian city of Nosivka, backed military support for Ukraine in the early days of the war, but voted against the most recent aid package passed in Congress. She has called for the US to come up with a wider strategy to push Putin out of Ukraine, rather than sending piecemeal aid packages.
In an interview with The Telegraph, she also called on Europe to do more to support the war effort, arguing that the EU does not have a “strategy” to push Mr Putin out of Ukraine.
“The UK has been probably one of the best on this issue,” she said. “I’ll be honest with you, the rest of Europe is a joke and that’s why Putin is taking advantage of that.
“So I think America will do its part. But, you know, I think also Europeans need to step up on this issue because it’s an even bigger and closer problem for all of them.”
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