West has made up its mind on long-range strikes — Russian official

Moscow knows that the West has made a decision on whether to allow Ukraine to attack Russia with long-range missiles and has informed Kiev, the TASS news agency cited Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Saturday.

Ryabkov did not clarify what the purported decision was, but said that since Moscow's verbal warnings to the West against further escalation have not worked, Russia would need to switch to sending signals in different ways.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the West on Friday to lift restrictions on the use of long-range weapons to expedite an end to the war with Russia and compel Moscow to seek peace, according to the presidency.

Zelenskyy spoke at the opening of the 20th Annual Yalta European Strategy Meeting where he emphasized the importance of deploying Western-provided weapons against Russian positions to counteract intense air strikes.

He noted that current restrictions prohibit the use of the weapons against military targets within Russia.

'Ukraine needs long-range capability'

“Anyone who simply sees on a map where Russia strikes from on a daily basis, where Russia trains its forces and keeps reserves, where it locates military facilities and what logistics it uses – anyone who sees all this, clearly understands why Ukraine needs long-range capability,” said Zelenskyy.

The Ukrainian leader reported that he discussed Ukraine’s request for long-range weapons with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy during meetings in Kiev on September 11.

“I hope that after our conversation, there simply cannot be any unanswered questions about why Ukraine needs sufficient long-range capability,” he said.

“I want to highlight once again: Sufficient. Sufficient not to simply say that there is a decision, but to really change the course of the war and make Russia seek peace. And we are really counting on our partners, hoping for results from our partners. At least, we are working on it.

“Everyone knows where Russian missile launchers are being deployed, and what logistics routes are critical for the Russian occupation forces. All of this can be destroyed in a matter of months,” he said.

Need strong global decisions

In addition, Zelenskyy addressed the need for strong global decisions within the framework of international law to end the war.

He accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of wanting to prolong the conflict and emphasised that making the war increasingly difficult for Russia is essential.

“Unfortunately, Putin and his inner circle have not been tangibly affected by the war so far, yet, yet. But Putin and his cronies must feel all the problems that war brings. And this means that the war must become significantly more difficult for Russia. Only then can Russia be forced to understand that the war will have to end. And it must end fairly – on the basis of international law. This requires strong decisions from the world,” he said.

He also criticised Iran for supplying missiles to Russia, claiming they are used in terror attacks. He demanded the destruction of Russian missiles and Iranian-made Shahed drones with allied support.