FT: Britain bravely aids Kyiv with some deep strikes into Russia

The UK and Ukraine have announced a major new partnership to develop and mass-produce interceptor drones – with one of Kyiv's leading drone-makers also revealing plans to build a factory in the UK…

The US will provide Ukraine with new intelligence to help guide long-range missile and drone strikes on Russia’s energy infrastructure, a move that marks an escalation in Washington’s role in the war, ‘Financial Times’ writes.

Washington already provides intelligence support to Ukraine, but the new measures could help Kyiv to better map Russian air defences and plot strike routes, bolstering the effectiveness of its existing long-range drones and missiles, said people familiar with the discussions.

Such support would also aid any new long-range weapons that Washington may approve for sale to NATO allies on the basis they would be given to Ukraine.

While no final decision has been made public, President Donald Trump has told agencies to prepare to share intelligence, the people said.

Tomahawks have a range of up to 2,500km (1,500 miles), which would open up a whole new array of targets inside Russia to Ukraine — and bring Moscow well within range.

But some inside Trump’s circle are not convinced they would make a big difference to the military balance. “I don’t think a limited number of Tomahawks or sporadic deep strikes into Russia will change Putin’s mind,” the US official said.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesperson, told Russian state television that US musings about supplying Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles were “a quite dangerous symptom that can’t go unnoticed in Moscow”.

If the US were to go ahead with the plan, Peskov said it would be “a new, serious escalation of tensions that would require a worthy response from the Russian side”.

He added: “There is no magic bullet for [Ukraine]... No one weapon can totally change the way events are playing out.”

Britain already aids Kyiv with some deep strikes into Russia, said people familiar with the matter.