No, no, yes: shifting red lines in West's support for Ukraine
By Max Hunder
KYIV, Sept 13 (Reuters) -Since Russia's full-scale invasion more than 30 months ago, Ukraine has relied heavily on supplies of weapons from its Western allies to beat back its much larger enemy.
Kyiv's allies have sometimes been reluctant to give it the weapons it has asked for, because of fears the war will escalate.
However, as the war has gone on, one weapons system after another has been given to Ukraine after initial hesitation.
At present, Kyiv is seeking permission from the United States and its partners to use longer-range missiles they have given Ukraine to strike deeper inside Russia. Kyiv says this could reduce the threat that Russia poses.
Some NATO countries have supported Kyiv's plea, but Washington is weighing this against concerns about Moscow's response to the move, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has said would be seen as equivalent to direct Western participation in the war.
Below is a list of some of the weapons systems Western countries were initially hesitant to give Ukraine but which were eventually handed over.
ATACMS
Throughout the war, Ukraine has asked its allies to give it the capability to strike deeper behind Russian lines, a crucial part of disrupting enemy logistics and command chains.
The United States held off on supplying Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) - because of concerns that Russia would see this as escalatory - until October 2023, when they supplied a short-range version with a maximum range of 165 km (100 miles).
This was followed up by deliveries in early 2024 of a longer-range version of the ATACMS missile which has a range of up to 300 km (165 miles). A U.S. official told Reuters at the time that the first use of this variant of the missile was an April 17 strike on an air base in the Russian-occupied peninsula of Crimea.
F-16s
Ukraine asked for F-16 fighter jets from soon after start of the invasion to boost its long-range strike ability as well as to use the jets to shoot down the volleys of cruise missiles fired deep into Ukraine by Moscow.
Ukrainian pilots started to be trained on the jets only in August 2023, after lengthy negotiations between the coalition of allies who would provide planes or training.
Ukraine was keen to finish the training process as soon as possible, and the confirmation that Ukraine had received the first planes came on July 31 this year.
Since then, one of the planes has crashed while attempting to engage Russian missiles fired at land targets in Ukraine.
WESTERN TANKS
Although Ukraine's eastern European allies provided it with Soviet-era tanks at the start of the invasion, Kyiv coveted Western-built tanks, such as Britain's Challenger 2 and the German-built Leopard 2, until their transfer was approved after a lengthy negotiation in January 2023.
The agreement on a coalition of countries to supply the tanks was delayed by concerns in Germany that the move could be seen as escalatory by Russia. Berlin eventually approved the transfer of Leopard 2 tanks from other countries' stockpiles as well as its own.
STRIKES ON RUSSIA
For over two years, the United States did not allow Ukraine to strike Russia with any of its weapons systems.
After a Russian assault in May 2024 near the northwestern city of Kharkiv, Washington changed its stance under pressure from Kyiv.
Ukraine was secretly authorised by President Joe Biden to fire U.S.-supplied weapons at military targets inside Russia that were supporting the Kharkiv offensive.
Reporting by Max Hunder; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Timothy Heritage
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