Image source, UK Parliament

UK Defence Secretary John Healey says he won't comment on Ukraine's use of Anglo-Franco Storm Shadow missiles today.

"It risks operational security and the only person that benefits from public debate is President [Vladimir] Putin," Healey told the House of Commons on Monday afternoon.

He added that he spoke to his US counterpart yesterday, and will speak with the Ukrainian minister of defence later today.

Reiterating the prime minister's comments that the UK must "double down" on its support for Ukraine, Healey added that Britain will continue to work in close coordination with the US.

Britain and France have supplied Ukraine with Storm Shadow missiles, but they remain under the same restrictions that the US ATACM missiles were under until very recently.

BBC Ukrainian, Kyiv

Responding to the reports that the US had authorised the use of American long-range missiles to strike Russia, President Voldymyr Zelensky said, "Strikes are not carried out with words. Such things are not announced. Missiles will speak for themselves."

Serhiy Kuzan, head of the Ukrainian Centre for Security and Cooperation, told the BBC that while ATACMS will not "change the course" of the war, "they will balance our forces to a certain extent".

According to Kuzan, Biden's authorisation could help to repel a major offensive by the Russian and North Korean militaries in the Kursk region, which has been under Ukrainian control since August.

On social media, Ukrainians bitterly joke that while Ukraine's partners hesitated and delayed about missile authorisations, Russia has continued its aerial assault on their country.

On Sunday, Russia carried out its largest attack in months, launching 120 missiles and 90 drones, killing several people and causing severe damage to energy infrastructure.

"This authorisation came at a high cost," wrote one social media user. "Better late than never. We thank our partners!" commented another.

Image source, Reuters

Joe Biden has reiterated the US government’s support for Ukraine at the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - though he didn't refer directly to the decision to green light Ukraine's use of long-range missiles.

“We all have to work to end the conflicts and crises that are eroding progress to improve security around the world,” Biden said.

He adds, “the United States strongly supports Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Everyone around this table, in my view, should as well.”

Prof Justin Bronk of the defence think tank Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) has said the expected decision by the Biden administration to allow long-range US missiles to strike inside Russia will also "enable the UK storm shadow to be used in at least the same way".

Bronk added Russian threats of retaliation are unlikely to be considered a "significant deterrent" to the UK government at this stage.

"Russia has threatened dire consequences repeatedly throughout the war at each stage when Western equipment has been supplied," Bronk said.

"In each case, when the weapons were actually sent, there was no significant Russian response."

Although the decision would enable Ukraine to disrupt Russian attacks on the territory it holds in Kursk, Bronk said "most of the more critical targets, such as fighter bombers on airbases, are likely beyond the range of these missiles in practical terms".

Back in September, Russia's President Putin drew a line, warning that allowing Ukraine to use long-range missiles in Russia would represent the "direct participation" of Nato countries in the war in Ukraine.

It's not the only warning Russia has issued throughout the war, nor is it the only warning that the West has failed to abide by.

Back in February 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion into Ukraine, Putin warned "those who may be tempted to interfere from the outside" would face consequences "such as you have never seen in your entire history".

Since then, Western nations have supported Ukraine with aid including tanks and F-16 fighter jets.

In August, it was confirmed by a source that UK-donated Challenger 2 tanks had been used by Ukraine during its incursion into Russia itself.

Over the last two years, Russia has repeatedly accused the West of "fighting Russia" or launching "a war" on Russia.

United Russia MP, Maria Butina, tells the BBC that the US is using Ukraine and, in the process, further deepening the conflict with Russia.

The world doesn't need "another escalation," she adds, "another step to the, potentially, the third world war."

"And while the United States is playing their little games in politics, they are actually pushing the world to a very dangerous red line," Butina says.

She adds that it's an attempt to "escalate as much as possible so Trump is not able to keep the promise to stop the war."

Image source, Getty Images

As France and the UK weigh up whether to follow America's decision on missiles, one Ukrainian MP has urged the countries to go a step further and put boots on the ground.

"I think the next discussion should be about sending troops to Ukraine," Oleksiy Goncharenko, the MP for Odesa, tells our colleagues on Newsday.

This is after reports that North Korea - an ally of Russia - sent soldiers to fight in the conflict. Goncharenko asks why Ukraine's allies can't do the same.

"Not on the frontline but inside Ukraine," he adds, explaining how this would "free up thousands of Ukrainian troops" to fight.

Were the UK and France to send this assistance, Goncharenko suggests foreign soldiers could be employed to train Ukrainians or help with air defence or cyber security.

Jessica Parker
Reporting from Florida

Image source, Reuters

Donald Trump has yet to offer his thoughts on Joe Biden’s change of heart. A key question, of course, is whether the President-elect would reverse the decision once he enters office on 20 January next year.

Trump has a history of praising Vladimir Putin and has been a vocal critic about the level of US aid going to Kyiv. He’s also claimed he’d end the war in a day without explaining how. But his remarks – along with others in his team – have sparked speculation that a Trump plan could see Kyiv pressed into ceding territory to Russia that Moscow’s troops have occupied.

Trump’s running mate and the future Vice President, JD Vance, told a podcast in September that a settlement “probably” looks like the “current line of demarcation” which would become a “demilitarised zone.”

So US permission on missiles is just of a wider approach that could be rewritten when the next President takes power.

Image source, Getty Images

We've had some more reaction from Jon Finer, US deputy national security adviser, on the Kremlin's comment earlier today accusing the US of throwing fuel on the fire of the conflict.

Speaking to reporters at the G20 summit in Brazil, he says the US saw Russian escalation in deploying North Korean forces into the battlefield, and adds that America has "been clear to the Russians that we would respond to that".

Finer says the fire was lit by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the main issue is its continuation, the presence of North Korean forces and "major escalation" in aerial attacks on infrastructure across the country.

"So I would put the question back to Russia about who's actually putting fuel on the fire here, and I don't think it's the Ukrainians," he says.

We're hearing some reaction now from Kyiv residents, on Biden permitting Ukraine to use long-range missiles supplied by the US to strike inside Russia.

For Olga Korovyachuk, she thinks this will "help [...] in the future" but adds "this will be solved by weapons alone".

She adds: "It may mean additional points for Biden, from his American voters, but for Ukrainians this is a little too late."

Larysa Lopatynska finds it "weird" that the US gives "permission", saying "we must defend ourselves and we should not ask anyone for permission".

Whereas Maksym Lysak believes for now that this is "just words" and wants to see what happens in reality first.

The Kremlin has warned of a “new spiral of tension” after the US gave the green light for Ukraine to use its missiles to strike inside Russia. Residents in Moscow have expressed their concern.

Speaking to Reuters news agency, resident Diana describes worrying about her friends, and says Biden’s decision “threatens the lives of people and these missiles will be used on them".

Alexander takes a more aggressive stance, and says: “Of course we should strike back, against the centres that operate those missiles, against the US and Nato bases, strike back".

Nadya, meanwhile, calls for restraint, saying: “I hope we will be smart on our government to communicate, negotiate. I don’t believe that it will come to such extremes."

Chris Partridge
BBC News weapons analyst

Image source, White Sands Missile Range Public Affairs

The Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) is a surface-to-surface ballistic system capable of hitting targets at up to 300km. It is the range of the projectiles that makes them particularly important for Ukraine.

ATACMS (pronounced "attack-ems") are fired from either the tracked M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) or the wheeled M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).

The missiles are fuelled by solid rocket propellant and follow a ballistic path into the atmosphere before coming back down at high speed and high angle, making them difficult to intercept.

Navigation is programmed before launch and performed using a mixture of inertial and satellite guidance, with a reported accuracy down to around 10 metres.

The missiles can be configured to carry one of two different types of warhead. The first is a cluster fitted with hundreds of bomblets designed to destroy lighter-armed units, such as troops or air defences.

The second type is a unitary warhead, a 225kg high explosive variant designed to destroy hardened facilities and larger structures.

We're taking a look back now at the US's substantial change of foreign policy - with President Biden allowing Ukraine to use the missiles provided by the US to strike inside Russian territory, officials say.

Previously, missiles known as ATACMS, were only permitted to strike Russian targets who had entered Ukrainian territory.

Western allies of Ukraine had set strict boundaries on donated weapons over fears it would expand the war - Russia has warned it would represent the Nato military alliance's "direct participation" in the Ukraine war.

At this stage, neither British nor French authorities have lifted restrictions on the Storm Shadow missiles they have provided, but the US decision could now open the door for them to do so.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from Washington

US Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer has refused to confirm that the US has made the decision to allow Ukraine to fire long-range missiles into Russian territory - saying only that the US has repeatedly said it "would respond" to the deployment of North Korean forces in Kursk.

While Finer declined to confirm the policy change, he said that "the fire was lit by Russia's invasion of Ukraine", which he referred to as "the main issue".

Reports of a shift in US policy have been met with criticism from prominent Republicans, albeit for varied reasons.

Some, such as Mississippi Republican Roger Wicker - the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services - characterised the decision as too little, too late, and condemned President Joe Biden for having moved too slowly.

In a statement, Wicker said that the policy change "does not excuse the administration's deliberate slow-walking of items and assistance long authorised by Congress for use against Putin's illegal aggression."

Others, including the president-elect's son, Donald Trump Jr, accused the White House of escalating the conflict.

"The military industrial complex seems to want to make sure they get to World War Three before my father has a chance to create peace and save lives," he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Image source, Telegram: Zelenskiy_Official

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has visited troops in Pokrovsk, a logistics town on the front line of the conflict.

A video posted by Zelensky on Telegram showed him handing awards to troops defending the town from Russian forces situated some 8km (5 miles) away.

"The East is not completely occupied by Russia. The enemy receives a daily response," he wrote in a post marking the trip on Telegram.

Pokrovsk is a key transportation hub. Russian forces hope to capture it to cut off one of the main supply routes in the region.

For Ukraine, that would effectively mean the loss of almost the entire Donetsk region, which the Kremlin has fought to capture since the beginning of their invasion.

We're now hearing an update on casualty figures in Odesa from Ukraine's national police. In a short statement on Telegram, the force says ten people are now confirmed to have been killed following a Russian missile attack.

Of these, they say that seven are "policemen", another is a medic, and two were "local residents".

The number of people injured has risen to 43 people, Ukraine's state emergency services says in a separate update on Telegram. Four of the wounded are children, it adds.

More now from Odesa, where the city’s MP Oleksiy Goncharenko says that eight people have so far been confirmed killed following a Russian missile strike earlier today.

Speaking to BBC News, Goncharenko says the situation “is really very bad”, as he describes how the missile hit the centre of Odesa close to his home.

“It’s an awful picture; wounded people, fire, the cars which were on fire...” he says.

"It was absolutely a residential area, I saw everything by my own eyes; flowers, markets, cafes… and elderly people, women, who suffered from this attack.”

The MP also says that a medical centre was “heavily struck”, before suggesting that another missile hit the city’s university building, but did not detonate.

“Thank God it did not explode,” he adds. “It’s just a miracle.”

Ukraine's air force says a strike on Odesa was the result of a ballistic missile being shot down by air defence systems.

The downed missile fell into a residential neighbourhood of the city, the air force says. At least eight people were killed and 39 people injured, according to the head of the regional administration.

The force expressed its condolences to the loved ones of the victims and called on civilians not to ignore air alerts when they come.

Jonathan Beale
Defence correspondent

Discussions between Britain and Ukraine on the use of the UK’s long-range Storm Shadow missiles – to hit military targets inside Russia – have been long and protracted. Senior military officers and officials have argued for the lifting of restrictions. Ministers have been sympathetic too.

President Zelensky’s hopes were raised at July's Nato summit in Washington when Keir Starmer said while Storm Shadow missiles were to be used for defensive purposes "it’s up to Ukraine" to decide how to deploy them.

Zelensky thought that was a signal that restrictions on its use would be lifted.

But, much to Zelensky’s frustration, nothing happened. Nor was it clear that such a commitment had been made.

Instead, UK officials have been involved in discussions with allies over lifting the restrictions on the use of the missiles inside Russia.

One defence official told me those discussions were "complicated". Various reporting has suggested the use of the weapons would have to be co-ordinated with the US for both technical and intelligence reasons.

But the bottom line was the UK was not prepared to go it alone in the face of US opposition.

Biden's green light for the use of long-range missiles means Ukraine will now be able to strike targets inside Russia, most likely at first around the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces hold over 1,000 sq km of territory.

Ukrainian and US officials expect a counter-offensive by Russian and North Korean troops to regain territory in Kursk.

Ukraine may use ATACMS (the Army Tactical Missile System) to defend against the assault, targeting Russian positions including military bases, infrastructure and ammunition storage.