“He (putin) claimed that, for missile launches into Russia, Ukraine would require data from Western satellites and that only servicemen from Nato member states would be able to “input flight missions into these missile systems”.
Thanks to the debacle involving German senior officers and a recording released publicly by Russia on 1st March, this is implied and on public record.
In the recording officers discussed UK and US personnel in Ukraine helping targeting decisions, “When it comes to mission planning, I know how the English do it,” the German commander tells his subordinates on the call. As well as working with advisers back home, the British* “also have a few people on the ground, they do that, the French don’t”
and “A week ago, Scholz himself referred to the presence of British troops in Ukraine helping with “target control” and said he could not accept similar for Germany whether inside or outside the country because he felt it risked making Berlin a “participant in the war” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/04/what-are-the-implications-of-russias-apparent-interception-of-military-talks-on-ukraine *my note– Storm Shadow (UK) and SCALP-EG (France) are essentially the same.
The issue has been to use them properly they require integration with NATO targeting and electronic warfare capabilities, which effectively means that NATO would have a direct involvement ‘on the ground’*. This then is big debate.
I don’t know enough about this, but my thought is that the larger NATO countries all have their own systems. Russia likes to conflate independent actions as “NATO” because it suits their narrative, but the systems are no more “NATO” than a UK made weapon system that meets NATO standards and is donated to Ukraine. I could be massively wrong, so please correct that if needed.
A further thought on long-range weapons: If their use is authorised for anywhere within range by an agreement involving the US, then surely the US is equally complicit in their use; they might as well follow up by authorising the use of US weapons as well.
I wonder if the “leak” by Michael McCaul ^^ is actually a step in escalation. The leak yesterday to the Guardian (also ^^) and the Times is similar. The US announced ATACMS prematurely in September 2023 and I wouldn’t have expected to see it repeated so soon
