Washington has transferred authority over strikes on Russia to the US European Command

The authority to approve missile strikes on the territory of the Russian Federation was transferred from US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to the Commander of the US European Command, General Christopher Grinkevich.

This is reported by The Wall Street Journal,

Following this decision, the administration of President Donald Trump lifted a key restriction that prohibited Ukraine from using long-range missiles to strike outside its own territory.

“Shortly after that, Ukrainian forces struck the Bryansk chemical plant using Storm Shadow cruise missiles ,” volunteer Serhiy Sternenko wrote on Telegram.

U.S. officials said they now expect more cross-border attacks from Ukraine using the same missiles, which are launched from Ukrainian aircraft and have a range of more than 175 miles (280 kilometers). At the same time, the United States, they said, may impose partial restrictions on the use of these weapons because Storm Shadow uses American guidance systems.

Until now, the final decision on the use of long-range Western weapons had been the responsibility of the Minister of Defense. Accordingly, none of Ukraine’s previous requests were approved until this authority was transferred to the European Command.

NATO spokesman Colonel Martin O’Donnell stressed that Ukraine has already proven its ability to accurately strike legitimate military targets on Russian territory without requiring additional authorization. According to him, such tactics are draining the Russian economy and have led to huge human losses, reaching more than a million dead and wounded.

Senator Angus King of Maine, who recently met with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, said that providing Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles would strengthen its position in the war with Russia. At the same time, he believes that the United States should have influence over the choice of targets so that strikes are carried out only on military facilities involved in the attack on Ukraine.

“If we can control the targeting process and ensure that strikes are only made on military targets, that will be an effective way to convince Putin that he cannot win this war,” King said.

According to a source familiar with the negotiations, the decision to lift restrictions on the use of Storm Shadow was made before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Donald Trump at the White House last week.

We previously reported that the Trump administration lifted a key restriction on Ukraine’s use of long-range weapons provided by its partners. This allowed Kyiv to strike targets in Russia. However, it is worth noting that the US presidential administration later stated that the information about the lifting of this restriction was fake.

At the same time, let us recall that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin stated that new United States sanctions will not affect the Russian economy in any way .

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