France won’t stop Ukraine firing long-range missiles at Russia

France appears to have given Ukraine approval to fire French-made Scalp long-range missiles into Russia “in the logics of self-defence”, following similar moves by America and Britain — but has not revealed whether they have yet been used.

Jean-Noël Barrot, the foreign minister, said in an interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg to be broadcast on Sunday that the West should not put limits on support for Ukraine against Russia and “not set and express red lines”.

President Putin has vowed to increase production of his country’s new hypersonic intermediate-range Oreshnik missile following its first use in an attack on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday. Russian defence officials have pointed out that the weapon’s range would allow it to be used against European cities.

Nato and Ukraine are expected to hold emergency talks on Tuesday to discuss the escalation in the two-and-a-half-year conflict, which follows North Korea’s decision to send troops to fight alongside Russian forces. Some 10,000 of them are believed to be in Russia’s Kursk region, ready to enter combat in Ukraine “soon”, according to Lloyd Austin, the US defence secretary.

Barrot said: “We will support Ukraine as intensely and as long as necessary. Why? Because it is our security that is at stake. Each time the Russian army progresses by one square kilometre, the threat gets one square kilometre closer to Europe.”

Asked whether France might send in combat troops, Barrot, who met his British counterpart, David Lammy, in London on Friday, said: “We do not discard any option.”

Last weekend President Biden finally gave Ukraine permission to use the long-range Army Tactical Missile System (Atacms) that it had supplied to strike targets within Russia.

On Tuesday Ukraine did so, hitting a large weapons arsenal near the town of Karachev in Russia’s Bryansk region, more than 70 miles from the Ukrainian border. The next day, Ukraine reportedly fired at least ten British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles at a underground military facility in the Kursk region, injuring a North Korean general and killing several senior Russian commanders.

Asked to clarify France’s position during a meeting with fellow European Union foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday, Barrot said President Macron had already said in May that Paris was open to allowing the use of its missiles to strike 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,” he said.

No evidence has emerged that the Scalp missiles — the French name for the jointly produced Storm Shadow — have been used and Barrot declined to comment.

Italy has also donated Scalp missiles, but has long made clear that it will not allow them to be used in Russia.

In a televised speech, Putin said the Oreshnik missile had been used in retaliation for Ukraine’s use of American and British missiles against Russian targets. “There is no countermeasure to such a missile, no means of intercepting it, in the world today. And I will emphasise once again that we will continue testing this newest system. It is necessary to establish serial production.”

General Sergei Karakaev, head of Russia’s strategic missile forces, said the Oreshnik could reach targets across Europe and be fitted with either nuclear or conventional warheads.