Russia has new ballistic missiles from Iran - US

Russia has received new deadly ballistic missiles from Iran for use in Ukraine and is likely to use them, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said in London yesterday as he prepared to travel with the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, to Kyiv.

- Patrick Wintour

The news, confirmed by the US for the first time and seen as of huge significance to the battlefield balance ahead of Ukraine's winter, led the US and Europe to impose new sanctions on Iran, apparently closing the door on the prospect of a rapprochement between the new reformist Iranian government and the west.

The move may also add to the pressure on the US to end its restrictions on Ukraine using British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles to strike targets deep inside Russia and not just in occupied parts of Ukraine.

Ukraine, with discreet UK backing, has been pressing for a change in US policy, but Blinken, at a press conference in London, highlighted obstacles to backing the Ukrainian request, including doubts about Ukraine's ability to maintain the missiles, training, and their strategic purpose.

Officials ultimately said the debate turned on whether sanctioning Storm Shadow for use deep inside Russia would be seen as a dangerous escalatory step that crossed a red line set by Vladimir Putin.

Blinken insisted the US position remained to provide Ukraine with the weapons it wants at the time it wants, but the Ukrainian president's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said applying sanctions on Iran was not enough and Kyiv needed permission to strike deeper into Russia.