The US will provide Ukraine with intelligence on long-range energy infrastructure targets in Russia, officials told Reuters, as it weighs whether to send Kyiv missiles that could be used in such strikes.
The US is also asking Nato allies to provide similar support, the US officials said, confirming details first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
The decision represents the first known policy change that President Donald Trump has signed off on since hardening his rhetoric towards Russia in recent weeks in an attempt to end Moscow’s more than three-year-old war on its neighbour.
Trump, who had previously said Ukraine would have to give up territory to end the war, said last week he believed it was possible for Kyiv to win back all land that Moscow has captured.
Washington has long been sharing intelligence with Kyiv, but the Wall Street Journal said the new data would make it easier for Ukraine to hit infrastructure such as refineries, pipelines and power plants with the aim of depriving the Kremlin of revenue and oil.
Responding to the reports, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the “supply and use of the entire infrastructure of Nato and the US to collect and transfer intelligence to the Ukrainians is obvious”.
Trump has been pressing European countries to stop buying Russian oil in exchange for his agreement to impose tough sanctions in a bid to try to dry up funding for Russia’s invasion.
The move comes as the US considers a Ukrainian request to provide Tomahawk cruise missiles, which have a range of 2,500km – easily enough to hit Moscow and most of European Russia if fired from Ukraine.
Ukraine also has its own long-range missile, Flamingo, in early production but quantities are unknown. According to US officials cited by the Wall Street Journal, the approval for additional intelligence came shortly before Trump posted on social media last Tuesday suggesting that Ukraine could retake all its occupied land.
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