Pentagon now more likely to support Ukrainian long-range missile attacks on Russia, The Times reports

insider:The Pentagon is now more likely to support Ukraine's plan to launch long-range attacks on targets deep inside Russia, The Times reports.

While the US has publicly taken the stance to "not encourage Ukraine to strike beyond its borders," the administration has reportedly revised its assessment of the war. It is now more likely to supply Kyiv with longer-range weapons to strike deep into Russia, according to The Times.

An anonymous US defense source told The Times that "the fear of escalation has changed since the beginning.

"It's different now. This is because the calculus of war has changed as a result of the suffering and brutality the Ukrainians are being subjected to by the Russians."

Fears that Russia would launch a tactical nuclear strike or attack a member of Nato bordering Russia have subsided among US military planners, said The Times.

Washington does not want to be seen encouraging Ukraine to strike in Russia, with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken saying, "We have neither encouraged nor enabled the Ukrainians to strike inside of Russia," the BBC reports.

However, a separate US military source told The Times: "We're not saying to Kyiv, 'Don't strike the Russians [in Russia or Crimea].' We can't tell them what to do. It's up to them how they use their weapons. But when they use the weapons we have supplied, the only thing we insist on is that the Ukrainian military conforms to the international laws of war and to the Geneva conventions."

On Sunday and Monday, Ukraine is believed to have fired its own drones deep into Russian territory. One target was the Engels-2 airbase in Saratov Oblast in southern Russia, a base for Tu-95 and Tu-160 long-range bombers, which is nearly 400 miles from Ukraine's border.

Another explosion that day took place at the Dyagilevo air base, just southeast of Moscow. The two incidents killed and injured multiple people and damaged several planes.

The Times also suggested that the US could supply Ukraine with hi-tech long-range weapons, including missile launchers and heavily-armed drones. "Nothing is off the table," a senior US defense official said, per The Times.

President Putin has warned that the US would be "crossing a line" if they were to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles. 

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has previously told reporters, "If Washington decides to supply longer-range missiles to Kyiv, then it will be crossing a red line and will become a direct party to the conflict."