Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected claims that Ukraine has used US long-range missiles to hit deep within the Russian territory. The statement came after a Wall Street Journal report alleged that the US lifted restrictions on Ukraine’s use of certain Western weapons for strikes on Russia.
Ukrainian President denies using US weapons for strikes inside Russia
Speaking from the sidelines of the EU leaders’ summit in Brussels on 23 October, Zelenskyy said Ukraine has never launched American long-range weapons at targets deep inside Russia. During a briefing in Brussels, he responded to a journalist’s question about the WSJ article that claimed the US administration had removed limits on using Western missiles against Russia, citing an attack on Russia’s Bryansk Oblast.
“I don’t know who wrote what,” Zelenskyy said. “We never used American weapons for long-range strikes on very important targets in Russia. That’s important.”
He clarified that Ukraine did use various long-range systems, but only in areas of active combat or against Russian forces preparing to launch operations.
Now, President Zelenskyy also stressed that equating attacks on occupied Ukrainian territory with strikes on Russia was incorrect.
“Crimea and the East are Ukraine, and we cannot talk about using any weapon, not even domestically produced ones, against Crimea as if it were Russian territory,” he said. “No, it’s temporarily occupied territory.”
Ukraine turns to its own long-range weapons
Zelenskyy said Ukraine now uses domestically produced long-range systems. These include capabilities ranging from 150 kilometers to 3,000 kilometers. According to him, the key challenge is not technology, but scaling up production.
“The issue is how to get additional funding to mass-produce the long-range capabilities we have,” he explained.
He also referenced Russia’s frozen assets, stating that it was important for Ukraine to access some of those funds to support its weapons manufacturing, as well as European and other allied defense industries.
