France says Ukraine using its long-range missiles in Russia still an ‘option’

France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on Monday, November 18, that Paris remained open to allowing Ukraine to use French long-range missiles to strike military targets inside Russia, after the United States cleared Kyiv to use American missiles for the same purpose.

Washington’s policy shift – long demanded by Ukraine – came in response to North Korea deploying troops to help Moscow’s war effort, US officials have said. The move is likely to lead European allies to review their stances.

Barrot recalled that French President Emmanuel Macron had already said in May that Paris was open to consider greenlighting the use of its missiles to strike on Russian soil.

“We openly said that this was an option that we would consider if it was to allow to strike targets from where Russians are currently aggressing Ukrainian territory,” Barrot told reporters in Brussels. “Nothing new under the sun,” he added ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in the Belgian capital.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has long pushed for authorization from Washington to use the powerful Army Tactical Missile System, known by its initials ATACMS, to hit targets inside Russia.

But US officials had previously worried about the danger of escalating the conflict with nuclear-armed Russia, as well as the risk of depleting Washington’s own stocks of the valuable munitions.

France and Britain have provided Ukraine with their long-range Storm Shadow and SCALP missiles, but have held back from authorising their use inside Russia without American approval for ATACMS.