“The intelligence assessment, which has not been previously reported, also downplays the impact that long-range missiles will have on the course of the conflict,” the newspaper notes.
The authors of the article explained that the Ukrainian Armed Forces currently have a limited number of such missiles and it is not clear how many more Western countries will be able to provide them, or if they will be able to do so.
Intelligence analysts also fear such a decision due to the inability to calculate its consequences. At the same time, US President Joe Biden’s closest advisers believe Russia’s response will be “deadly.”
This situation may partly explain why it was so difficult for Biden to make this decision and why he was forced to answer “no” to Vladimir Zelensky’s request, the publication notes.
The agency’s anonymous interlocutors added that it is still unclear what Biden will ultimately decide to do.
Earlier, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said in a briefing that the United States, after the meeting between Biden and Zelensky in Washington, would not announce a change in approach to ban kyiv from using weapons of long range to strike deep into Russian territory. . He stressed that nothing has changed.