President Biden’s decision Allowing Ukraine to fire U.S.-made and supplied missiles deeper into Russia — a major policy change announced last weekend after months of intense lobbying by Kiev — has drawn a furious response from Moscow. While there was no immediate response from the man who launched the nearly three-year war against his neighbor, lawmakers aligned with President Vladimir Putin in Russia said Monday the move was unacceptable and warned it could lead to a third world war to lead.
Mr. Biden authorized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to use American-made missiles with a range of nearly 200 miles, known as ATACMS, to strike deeper into Russian territory than the Ukrainians have done so far.
So far, Ukraine’s attacks beyond its immediate border region within Russia have been limited to non-US – and much less powerful – weapons such as explosive drones. ATACMS are much more destructive and harder to shoot down while moving towards their programmed targets.
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Zelenskyy’s government had been pressing Washington for some time for permission to use the missiles for long-range strikes, but the Biden administration was reluctant due to concerns about a possible escalation of the war.
However, over the weekend the calculation apparently changed. The decision came nearly a thousand days after the all-out war in Ukraine, and with Mr. Biden about two months away from handing over the keys of the White House to President-elect Trump, who is seen as far less supportive of Ukraine’s ambitions to to adhere to all the rules. of its Russian-occupied territory.
It also came as Russia Ukraine hit with a devastating rocket attackThis highlights Ukraine’s desperate desire for the ability to target Russian weapons systems deeper into the country before launching them, something Zelenskyy has been emphasizing for more than a year.
Many of the Russian missiles launched on Sunday targeted energy infrastructure, but a ballistic missile carrying cluster munitions also struck a residential area of the northern city of Sumy, killing 11 people, including two children, and more than 80 others were injured. Fresh strikes hit apartment buildings in the southern city of Odesa on Monday, killing at least eight people, including a child, regional authorities said.
Residents of Sumy were targeted as they slept, and Ukrainian officials called Sunday’s rocket and drone salvo one of the largest Russian attacks since the war began.
With the policy change of the outgoing administration in Washington, the Ukrainian armed forces will be able to retaliate harder and penetrate further into Russia than ever before. Ukrainian forces have been carrying out drone strikes on Russian territory, including Moscow, for months, but with limited effect.
Zelenskiy welcomed the change in US policy, saying: “Attacks are not made with words… The missiles will speak for themselves.”
But Ukraine’s wartime leader also appeared to acknowledge the change of direction in Washington that Trump’s second swearing-in will bring, with a much greater emphasis expected on striking a negotiated ceasefire than on defending Ukraine’s sovereign territory against unilateral annexation by Russia.
“It is certain that the war will end sooner with the policies of the team that will now lead the White House. This is their approach, their promise to their citizens,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with a Ukrainian news channel, adding that Ukraine “must do everything so that this war ends next year, by diplomatic means.”
In Moscow, meanwhile, senior lawmaker Leonid Slutsky criticized Mr. Biden, accusing him of deciding “to end his presidential term and go down in history as ‘Bloody Joe’.”
Senator Vladimir Jabarov, meanwhile, told Russian state news agency Tass that Biden’s decision marked “a very big step towards the start of World War III.”
The Russian state’s official newspaper, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, warned that “the madmen who draw NATO into direct conflict with our country may soon suffer great pain.”
Putin had previously personally warned of this possibility: issue a warning in September that US authorization for Ukraine to fire American-supplied long-range missiles at its country “would mean that NATO countries, the United States and European countries are parties to the war in Ukraine.”
But Putin himself has since dramatically raised the stakes of the war, overseeing the deployment of at least 11,000 North Korean troops to fight alongside Russian forces. They have joined the fighting in Russia’s western Kursk region, which Ukrainian forces occupied a significant part of in a surprise offensive earlier this year.
According to John Sullivan, who served as US ambassador to Russia under both Trump and Mr Biden, it may have been that move by Putin – ‘that really cemented this as a global conflict with troops from North Korea fighting in Europe ‘ – which has led to being “the last straw” for the current American president.
“It was one escalation after another by Putin and in my opinion it’s time for the United States to give the Ukrainians the ability to defend themselves more fully,” Sullivan said Monday on CBS Mornings.
The parameters of the authorization granted to Ukraine to use the ATACMS have not been confirmed, but according to reports they include – and may be limited to – Ukraine using the missiles to attack Russian defensive positions in Kursk.
James Nixey, head of the Russia and Eurasia program at London-based think tank Chatham House, said in an analysis Monday that the policy shift from Washington was “not a game changer,” especially if it meant limiting where Ukraine can do that. use the ATACMS.
“The relaxation of range limits for Ukrainian use of U.S. ATACMS follows the general pattern of the U.S. approach to this war: to ensure that Ukraine cannot inflict significant damage on Russia… but to allow small increases in hardware supply and use during to enable longer periods. ” he said. “If it is true that the authorization for use extends only to the Kursk region (and therefore primarily targets North Korean forces); then this again fits the pattern and means that the overall effects on the war will be negligible.”
