President Biden’s decision Allowing Ukraine to fire U.S.-made and supplied missiles deeper into Russia — a major policy shift announced over the weekend after months of intense lobbying from kyiv — sparked a furious backlash from the part of Moscow. Although there was no immediate reaction from the man who launched the nearly three-year war against his neighboring country, Russian lawmakers aligned with President Vladimir Putin said Monday that the move was unacceptable and warned that it could lead to a third world war.
Mr. Biden authorized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to use American-made missiles with a range of nearly 200 miles, known as ATACMS, to strike deeper inside Russian territory than the Ukrainians have done so far.
So far, Ukraine’s attacks beyond the immediate border region with Russia have been limited to non-US – and much less powerful – weapons such as explosive drones. ATACMS are much more destructive and harder to take down as they move towards their programmed targets.
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Zelensky’s government had been lobbying Washington for permission to use the missiles for long-range attacks for some time, but the Biden administration was reluctant due to fears of a possible escalation of the war.
But over the weekend, the calculations apparently changed. The decision came nearly 1,000 days after the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, and with Mr. Biden about two months away from handing over the keys to the White House to the president-elect. Trump, considered much less favorable to Ukraine’s ambitions to hold on to all of its territory occupied by Russia.
This also happened when Russia hit Ukraine with devastating missile attackhighlighting Ukraine’s desperate desire to be able to target Russian weapons systems deeper inside the country before they are launched, something Zelenskyy has been emphasizing for over a year.
Many Russian rockets launched Sunday targeted energy infrastructure, but a ballistic missile carrying cluster munitions also struck a residential area in the northern city of Sumy, killing 11 people, including two children, and causing more than 80 others injured. New strikes hit apartment buildings in the southern city of Odessa 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 salvo of missiles and drones one of the largest Russian attacks since the war began.
With the outgoing administration’s policy shift in Washington, Ukrainian forces will be able to fight back harder, extending further into Russia than ever before. Ukrainian forces have been launching drone attacks on Russian territory for months, particularly targeting Moscow, but with limited effect.
Zelensky welcomed the change in US policy, saying “strikes are not done with words…The missiles will speak for themselves.”
But Ukraine’s wartime leader also appeared to acknowledge the shift in direction in Washington that Trump’s second swearing-in will bring, with the focus expected to be much more on reaching a negotiated truce than on defending the territory. sovereign of Ukraine against unilateral annexation by Russia.
“It is certain that the war will end sooner thanks to the policies of the team that will now run the White House. This is their approach, their promise to their citizens,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with Ukrainian media, adding that Ukraine “must do everything so that this war ends next year, through diplomatic means.” .
Meanwhile, in Moscow, 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 Dzhabarov, meanwhile, told Russia’s official Tass news agency that Biden’s decision represented “a very big step towards the start of World War III.”
Russia’s official state newspaper, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, warned that “the madmen who drag NATO into direct conflict with our country may soon suffer greatly.”
Putin had already personally warned against this possibility, issue a warning in September that U.S. authorization for Ukraine to fire U.S.-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 joined the battle in Russia’s western Kursk region, a significant part of which was occupied by Ukrainian troops earlier this year in a surprise offensive.
According to John Sullivan, who served as US ambassador to Russia under both Trump and Mr Biden, it may have been this move by Putin – “really escalating the global conflict with North Korean troops fighting in Europe” – which turned out to be “the straw that broke the camel’s back” for the current American president.
“Putin has had one escalation after another and, in my opinion, it was time for the United States to give the Ukrainians the opportunity to defend themselves more fully,” Sullivan said Monday on CBS Mornings.
The parameters of Ukraine’s authorization to use ATACMS have not been confirmed, but are reportedly including — and may be limited to — Ukraine using missiles to attack positions Russian defenses at Kursk.
James Nixey, who directs the Russia and Eurasia program at the London-based think tank Chatham House, said in an analysis Monday that Washington’s policy shift “is not a game-changer,” especially if it includes limiting areas where Ukraine can use ATACMS.
“The relaxation of range limits for Ukraine’s use of U.S. ATACMS follows the general pattern of the U.S. approach in this war: ensuring that Ukraine cannot inflict significant damage on Russia… but allow small increases in material supply and use over extended periods. “, he said. “While it is true that the authorization for use extends only to the Kursk region (and is therefore aimed primarily at North Korean troops); Again, this fits the model and means that the overall effects on war will be negligible.
