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THE Kremlin has accused United States President Joe Biden of escalating the war in Ukraine by allowing Kyiv to use long-range missiles supplied by Washington to strike targets inside Russia.
The decision comes as Moscow has deployed nearly 50 000 troops to Kursk, the southern Russian region where Kyiv launched its surprise counter-offensive to prepare to take back territory.
The weapons are intended to be used primarily in Kursk for now, a US official said. With its huge troop amassment there, Russia is trying to take Kursk off the table as a potential bargaining chip for the Ukrainians in any future peace talks, something that the US does not want to see. The idea is to help Ukraine hold on to Kursk for as long as possible, the official said.
Thousands of North Korean troops have deployed to Kursk as part of Russia’s offensive, sparking concern from Biden and his advisers that their entry could lead to a dangerous new phase in the war.
The decision to allow the use of the Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, inside Russia had been under consideration for months. American officials had been divided on the wisdom of allowing the new capability. Some had concerns about escalating the war, while others worried about dwindling stockpiles of the weapons.
The US refused to even provide ATACMS to Ukraine for the first two years of the war, in part because of readiness concerns as the powerful missiles require time and complex components to produce. But Biden secretly approved the transfer of the long-range ATACMS missiles in February for use inside Ukrainian territory, and the US delivered the missiles in April.
Ukrainian President, Volodomyr Zelensky, had been pressing Washington to allow use of the weapons inside Russia, too, arguing he needed the capability to gain momentum in his war effort.
When Biden and Zelensky last met at the White House in September, the Ukrainian leader came with a detailed list of targets inside Russia that he wanted to hit with US-provided long-range missiles, according to sources familiar with the meeting.
The list was a key part of Zelensky’s “victory plan” for winning the war. Biden, who nearly three years into the war had prohibited the Ukrainians from deploying the missile systems for deep strikes into Russia, was not entirely dismissive of the request, the sources said. But he was ultimately non-committal, and the leaders agreed to keep discussing the issue.
Zelensky responded to the news on Sunday, saying on Telegram, “Missiles will speak for themselves.”
“Today, there is a lot of talk in the media about us receiving a permit for respective actions. Hits are not made with words. Such things don’t need announcements. Missiles will speak for themselves,” he said.
Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, on Monday said any US decision to allow Ukraine to fire American missiles deep into Russia would mean the US was directly involved in the conflict.
“If such a decision was indeed formulated and brought to the Kyiv regime, then this is a qualitatively new round of tension and a qualitatively new situation from the point of view of US involvement in this conflict,” Peskov said, adding that President Vladimir Putin had made Russia’s position clear in September.
For months, US officials provided a litany of reasons why changing the policy would not make a substantial difference. Chief among those was the limited supply of ATACMS that Kyiv had received from the Biden administration, a finite stockpile that could not be quickly replenished because of the long lead time on producing the advanced missiles. US officials also argued that Ukraine has its own burgeoning drone industry that is able to manufacture one-way attack drones with longer ranges than ATACMS.
The approximate 200-mile range of the US long-range missiles was not far enough to inflict substantive damage on one of the most important targets: the Russian aircraft launching powerful long-range glide bombs that have devastated Ukrainian targets. One US official estimated that 90 percent of those aircraft were outside the range of ATACMS, as Russia pulled key targets farther from the front line.
The Biden administration had rebuffed Ukraine’s requests to change its position on the long-range missiles, but like so many other ostensibly rigid policies established over nearly three years of war — including on Patriot missiles, Abrams tanks and F-16 fighter jets — the White House ultimately relented.
It’s unclear whether the administration will provide more ATACMS to Ukraine with the US$7,1 billion remaining in Presidential Drawdown Authority, which allows the military to pull stocks directly from US inventories to send to Kyiv, or whether the policy will apply only to the relatively few missiles that Ukraine still has.
The US and its allies had been working to ensure that Ukraine has what it needs through the end of 2025 as a way to “Trump-proof” US security aid. President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that the Ukraine-Russia war would not have started if he had been commander in chief.
Zelensky on Friday said the war “will end faster with the policy of this team that will now lead the White House,” referring to the incoming Trump administration. Trump has said he could settle the war in one day, without saying how he would do so.
Ukraine has long sought authorisation from Washington to use the powerful ATACMS, to hit military installations — and in particular airfields — inside Russia.
Quoting several US officials, The New York Times and the Reuters news agency on Sunday reported that President Biden had accepted Ukraine’s request.
The change in US policy means the weapons can be used 300km deep within Russian territory, putting an estimated 245 military and paramilitary targets within their range, including 16 air bases.
On September 12, Putin said Western approval for such a step would mean “the direct involvement of Nato countries, the United States and European countries in the war in Ukraine” because Nato military infrastructure and personnel would have to be involved in the targeting and firing of the missiles.
“It is obvious that the outgoing administration in Washington intends to take steps to continue adding fuel to the fire and continue to provoke tension around this conflict,” Peskov said.
Putin has yet to comment on the latest development. At least two Russian legislators also warned that the US move risks another world war.
“I have a great hope that (Donald) Trump will overcome this decision if this has been made because they are seriously risking the start of World War III, which is not in anybody’s interest,” said Maria Butina, a member of President Vladimir Putin’s party who was previously convicted of acting as an unregistered foreign agent of Russia within the US.
In an interview with Russia’s state news agency Tass, Vladimir Dzhabarov, first deputy head of the Russian upper house’s international affairs committee, described Biden’s decision as “unprecedented” while also warning of a possible global conflict. Dzhabarov said such an action would receive a swift response.
Samir Puri, a Russia expert at Chatham House, a UK-based think tank, described Biden’s decision as “very significant”. With the US go-ahead, Ukraine could retaliate by targeting the launching areas of those Russian missiles and drones, he said.
“This gives Ukraine an additional lifeline to get through the winter” and survive more Russian attacks, particularly on its power grid, Puri said.
A Trump transition spokesperson declined to address reports that Biden had authorised Ukraine to use long-range American missiles inside Russia.
“As President Trump has said on the campaign trail, he is the only person who can bring both sides together in order to negotiate peace and work towards ending the war and stopping the killing,” Trump communications director, Steven Cheung said in a statement.
Cheung did not respond to questions about whether Trump or his incoming national security advisers had received advance warning from the Biden administration about a decision that could have profound implications on the war between Ukraine and Russia.
Biden’s authorisation comes after the US State Department said 10 000 North Korean soldiers had been sent to Russia and “have begun engaging in combat operations with Russian forces” in the Kursk region, where Ukraine’s three-month military incursion has stalled.
A Ukrainian commander previously said North Korean troops were a “significant resource” for Moscow’s war on Ukraine, as even those being deployed defensively would free up Russian troops for assault operations elsewhere and would eventually be used in direct combat. — Al Jazeera/CNN
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