Ukraine does not need to use British Storm Shadow missiles inside Russian territory because “homemade” drones can do more damage to Russian forces, the US has claimed.

The US, UK and France are locked in a row with Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, over a ban imposed by Britain that prevents him from using the “bunker-buster” weapons outside of his own territory.

Mr Zelensky has repeatedly requested that he be allowed to strike Russian targets with the missiles during his incursion into Kursk, in western Russia.

The weapons were originally sent to Ukraine by the UK to help push Vladimir Putin’s forces out of Crimea.

But US officials are concerned that deploying the British long-range missiles in Russia itself would be seen as an escalation by the Kremlin, and could prompt Russian retaliation against Ukraine’s partners.

Despite Mr Zelensky’s pleas, Western governments have sought to downplay the significance of the Storm Shadows, arguing that Ukraine already has the weapons it needs to fight Vladimir Putin’s forces in Russia.

A Biden administration official told The Telegraph that there was no need to send Storm Shadow missiles into Russia because “homemade” drones used by Ukrainian forces are already helping to destroy targets.

“Ukraine actually has been able to have a real impact using its own long-range UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] program,” the official said.

“They have demonstrated the ability to hit some of these airfields that are out of Storm Shadow range, with their own indigenous UAVs that they’ve been building themselves.”

Ukraine has made use of suicide drones, one of the most significant military innovations of the war, during its most recent incursion into Russian territory that began on Aug 6.

Last week, Mr Zelensky said Ukrainian drones had struck four Russian airfields but argued the success of the mission showed how missiles were needed next.

“There are things you can’t do with drones alone. Unfortunately. Another weapon is needed - a missile weapon,” he warned.

On Monday, he claimed that the Kursk offensive could have been avoided entirely if Western allies had provided him with Storm Shadows to be used in Russian territory.

“If our partners lifted all the current restrictions on the use of weapons on Russian territory, we would not need to physically enter particularly the Kursk region to protect our Ukrainian citizens in the border communities and eliminate Russia’s potential for aggression,” he said in a speech at the foreign ministry in Kyiv.

It comes as the Kremlin announced that Ukraine destroyed a third bridge in Kursk on Monday, in its ongoing effort to disrupt Russian supply lines and hold the territory it has captured.

The bridge, near the village of Karzyzh, was the final permanent structure crossing the river Seym, leaving Moscow with few options to bring supplies across the water.

Earlier, Mykola Oleshchuk, the head of Ukraine’s air force, published two videos showing air strikes on two other bridges across the river near the towns of Glushkovo and Zvannoe.

The debate over Storm Shadows is the latest of a series of divisions between Ukraine and its allies over which Western military hardware should be supplied to help its war effort.

On Monday, a Downing Street spokesman said the UK was in an “ongoing dialogue” with allies about how to “be united in our support for Ukraine”. The spokesman would not be drawn on any change in policy but said there are “always conversations happening between ourselves”.

American officials are sceptical of Mr Zelensky’s claim that the missiles could be used to strike Russian glide bombers, which have been used to attack Ukrainian forces in Russia over the last fortnight.

White House sources told The Telegraph on Saturday that most airfields used for the bombers are further from the front line than the Storm Shadow’s 155-mile range.

Other British defence sources who support the missiles being used in Russia said they actually had a range of more than 300 miles, while Mr Zelensky has also argued that the missiles could also be used to hit Russian supply lines, which are closer to the front line.

Sir Ben Wallace, the former defence secretary, said that while Storm Shadows would help Ukraine in Kursk, German Taurus missiles would have more of an impact because they carry warheads that can more effectively destroy bridges.

“We shouldn’t have an issue with Storm Shadow being fired into Russia, but it wouldn’t be the game-changer people imagine,” he said.

“What we really need is Germany to step up and supply its large stocks of Taurus, alongside Britain, France and Italy, who are already doing it. That has the capability and capacity to really help Ukraine with its fight.”

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Ukrainian soldiers suspected they would invade Russia when they got new rifles, but still thought it was a joke when the orders came through.

• Ukrainian's shock offensive on Russia's Kursk region came as a surprise even to Ukraine's soldiers.

• "We joked that it wasn't April 1st," a Ukrainian soldier told The Economist.

• The country's troops did suspect that an invasion was imminent after they were issued new equipment.

Ukraine's plans to attack Russia's Kursk region were kept so under wraps that its own soldiers didn't believe it was going to happen.

Ukrainian soldiers started to suspect that an attack was imminent after they were issued new helmets and assault rifles earlier this month, The Economist reported on Sunday, citing soldiers involved in the incursion.

The soldiers told the outlet they went through training exercises on mock-ups. They later realized the mock-ups were simulations of Russian villages.

But for some, invading Russia still felt like a distant possibility.

"We laughed," a Ukrainian soldier identified only by his first name, Serhiy, said of the plans when he first heard of them, per The Economist.

"We joked that it wasn't April 1st. The commander just smiled, knowing we had no idea what was awaiting us," said Serhiy, a private in Ukraine's 80th brigade.

Concealing the invasion plans until the very last moment proved to be a masterstroke for Ukraine's military, whose shock offensive into the Kursk region on August 6 allowed them to catch the Russians off guard.

The commander in chief of Ukraine's military, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said last week that they'd seized nearly 400 square miles of Russian territory in just a few days. That's almost as much territory Russia has seized from Ukraine this year.

Ukraine's recent gains on the battlefield mark a shift in fortunes for the embattled country, which was caught on the back foot after US Congress delayed more than $60 billion of aid to them. The aid bill was finally passed in April after months of GOP opposition.

To be sure, Russian complacency might have added to the effectiveness of Ukraine's clandestine military operation.

Andrey Gurulyov, a Russian lawmaker and retired major general, said in a televised interview in Russia on August 8 that the country's military knew about Ukraine's plans to attack Kursk a month before it happened.

"But from the top came the order not to panic, and that those above know better," Gurulyov said, according to a translation by The New York Times.

Representatives for Ukraine's defense ministry didn't immediately respond to a request for comments.

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