PARIS, November 25. /TASS/. The Ukrainian armed forces are unable to use Western-supplied long-range weapons for strikes inside Russia "without the West’s support on the ground," France’s Le Monde newspaper writes, citing sources.

According to the sources, British-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles and French-made SCALP missiles "need to be programmed" before being loaded onto Ukraine’s Su-24 bombers. In this regard, the paper pointed to the US administration's move to authorize ATACMS ballistic missile strikes inside Russia. However, the sources did not specify what they meant by Western "support on the ground."

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on September 12 that Ukraine was unable to strike inside Russia without the West’s assistance because it would require intelligence data from satellites and flight assignments.

Putin pointed out on November 21 that US-and UK-made missiles had targeted military facilities in the Kursk and Bryansk regions following a move by the US and its NATO allies to authorize the use of their long-range weapons for strikes against Russia. According to Putin, in retaliation to the tracks, Russia for the first time used its newest Oreshnik non-nuclear intermediate-range ballistic missiles against Ukraine’s Yuzhmash defense industry facility in the city of Dnepr (formerly Dnepropetrovsk). The Russian leader emphasized that the West could face dire consequences if its provocative policy escalated the conflict further.