West unlikely to approve long-range strikes on Russia before UN General Assembly – Bloomberg

Bloomberg reports that the decision to ease Western restrictions on long-range strikes against targets on Russian territory is unlikely to be made before the meeting of world leaders at the UN General Assembly in the United States on 24 September.

As reported by Bloomberg, during their visit to Kyiv on Wednesday, leading diplomats from the UK and the US, David Lammy and Antony Blinken, did not rule out the possibility of meeting President Zelenskyy's request to use Western-supplied weapons for deeper strikes against Russia. However, they noted that Joe Biden will discuss this matter during his meeting with Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Washington on Friday.

The joint visit by Blinken and Lammy aimed to hearing Zelenskyy's plan for strikes deep into Russian territory and to discuss his long-term strategy for the coming year. This included an intention to better understand what Kyiv wants to target and why.

The meeting between Blinken, Lammy, and Zelenskyy lasted longer than planned. The Ukrainian president explained in detail why Ukraine needs to strike inside Russia, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The source said that Zelenskyy told them that Ukraine was only interested in military targets and discussed military plans for the coming months.

Before his meeting with Blinken and Lammy, the Ukrainian president stated that during his meeting with President Joe Biden later this month in New York, where world leaders will gather for the annual high-level debates at the UN General Assembly, he will intensify his call to ease restrictions on weapons.

"Unfortunately it doesn’t depend on my optimism, it depends on their optimism," Zelenskyy told reporters on Wednesday.

The decision on deeper strikes is unlikely to be made before the UN meeting in New York, although Biden may indicate whether a policy change is expected, Bloomberg notes. Lammy confirmed this, saying that the UN meeting would be the next opportunity to discuss long-range missiles and further support for Ukraine.

The high-level debates at the UN General Assembly in New York will begin on 24 September.

Politico reported that the White House has been finalising a plan to ease restrictions on Ukraine's use of US-provided weapons for strikes on Russian territory.

The Guardian reported that the UK has already decided to allow Ukraine to use Storm Shadow cruise missiles against targets on Russian territory.