Kyiv calls for Western backing to strike Russia in response to Iranian missile supply

A Ukrainian presidential official said on Tuesday the West should respond to Iran’s delivery of missiles to Russia by allowing Kyiv to conduct strikes deeper into Russian territory.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday Russia had already received missiles from the Islamic Republic, 2-1/2 years into the full-scale war in Ukraine. He said he expected Moscow would use such weapons in the coming weeks.

In response, the US will impose fresh sanctions on Iran later on Tuesday, Blinken told a news conference in London.

While describing sanctions against Iran over the missile deliveries as a “positive step,” Ukrainian top presidential official Andriy Yermak said this was not enough.

“We also need authorization to use Western weapons against military targets on Russian territory, the provision of longer-range missiles, and the enhancement of our air defense systems,” Yermak said on social media platform X.

The Kremlin had yet to comment on Blinken’s statements, but it said on Monday that it was developing dialogue with Iran in all areas. Tehran has denied supplying missiles to Moscow.

Until now, Iranian military support for Moscow has been limited mainly to unmanned Shahed attack drones, which carry a fraction of the explosives and are easier to shoot down because they are slower than ballistic missiles.

Reuters reported in August that Russia was expecting delivery of hundreds of the Fath-360 type of close-range ballistic missile.

This coincided with Ukraine’s surprise incursion into Russia’s western region of Kursk, which Kyiv said was part of a wider move to bring a fair end to the war. Russian forces meanwhile continue to gradually advance towards the strategic logistics hub of Pokrovsk in Ukraine’s east.

Ukraine’s Western allies said the transfer of Iranian missiles to Russia would signal a substantial escalation in the conflict.

The governments of France, Germany and Britain will work toward imposing sanctions on Iran Air as a response, according to the German foreign ministry.