Russian officials say Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to fire missiles deep into Russia could lead to world war

The president Biden’s decision allowing Ukraine to fire US-made and deeply Russian-supplied missiles — a major policy shift announced over the weekend after months of lobbying by Kyiv — drew an angry response from Moscow. While there was no immediate reaction to the man who launched a nearly three-year war on a neighboring nation, lawmakers aligned with President Vladimir Putin in Russia said on Monday this was unacceptable and warned it could lead to a third world war.

Mr. Biden authorized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to use American-made missiles with a range of about 200 kilometers, known as ATACMS, to strike deeper into Russian territory than the Ukrainians have so far.

So far, Ukraine’s attacks beyond the region near the border inside Russia have been limited to non-US forces – and very powerful weapons such as explosive weapons. ATACMS are more damaging and more difficult to shoot as they move toward their intended targets.

Zelenskyy’s administration has been pushing Washington to use long-range missiles for long-range attacks but the Biden administration has been reluctant given concerns about an escalation of the war.

However, over the weekend, the numbers clearly changed. This decision came almost a thousand days after the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, and Mr. Biden is two months away from handing over the keys to the White House to President-elect Trump, who has appeared less supportive of Ukraine’s desire to hold on to everything. in its territory held by Russia.

It also came as Russia hit Ukraine with a devastating missile attackhighlighting Ukraine’s strong desire to be able to target Russian weapons systems deep in the country before they are launched, which Zelenskyy has emphasized for more than a year.

Dozens of Russian rockets fired at energy infrastructure on Sunday, but a missile loaded with weapons also hit a residential area in the northern city of Sumy, killing 11 people, including two children, and injuring more than 80 others. Fresh strikes hit apartments in the southern city of Odesa on Monday, killing at least eight people, including a child, regional authorities said.

Sumy residents were targeted as they slept, and Ukrainian officials called Sunday’s missile and drone salvo the biggest Russian attack since the war began.

With a change in policy from the outgoing administration in Washington, Ukrainian forces will be able to retaliate harder, reaching further into Russia than ever before. The Ukrainian military has launched drone attacks on Russian territory, including targeting Moscow, for months, but with limited effect.

Zelenskyy welcomed the change in US policy, saying “strikes are not carried out in words… The missiles will speak for themselves.”

But Ukraine’s wartime leader also appeared to welcome the change in Washington that Trump’s second inauguration will bring, with more emphasis on striking a negotiated deal than protecting Ukraine’s sovereign territory from a joint Russian takeover.

“It is certain that the war will end soon with the policies of the team that will now lead the White House. This is their way, their promise to their citizens,” said Zelenskyy in an interview with a Ukrainian newspaper, adding that Ukraine. “It must do everything for this war to end next year, to end it through the use of embassies.”

Meanwhile, in Moscow, attorney general Leonid Slutsky criticized Mr. Biden, accusing him of deciding to “end his presidency and go down in history as ‘Bloody Joe’.”

Meanwhile, Senator Vladimir Dzhabarov, told the Russian news agency Tass that Biden’s decision represented “a very big step in the beginning of the third world war.”

Russia’s official state newspaper, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, warned that “lunatics who are dragging NATO into direct conflict with our country may soon be in great pain.”

Putin had personally warned about what had happened before, issuing a warning in September that the US’s permission for Ukraine to fire long-range missiles provided by the United States to its country, “would mean that NATO countries, the United States, and European countries, are part of the war in Ukraine.”

But Putin himself has greatly escalated the war since then, overseeing the deployment of at least 11,000 North Korean troops to fight Russian forces. They have joined the battle in Russia’s western Kursk region, a large part of which Ukrainian forces seized earlier this year in a dramatic fashion.

According to John Sullivan, who served as the US Ambassador to Russia under Trump and Mr. Biden, it may be that step of Putin – “which really strengthens this as a global conflict with troops from North Korea fighting in Europe” – which proved to be the “last straw” for the current US president.

“It’s been one escalation after another for Putin and, in my view, it’s about time the United States gave the Ukrainian people the power to fully defend themselves,” Sullivan said Monday on CBS Mornings.

The parameters of the authorization given to Ukraine to use ATACMS are not confirmed, but according to reports, it includes – and may be limited – Ukraine using missiles to attack Russian defense positions in Kursk.

James Nixey, who heads the Russia and Eurasia program at the London-based think tank Chatham House, said in an analysis on Monday that the policy change from Washington “isn’t a game changer,” especially if it includes limiting Ukraine’s reach. use ATACMS.

“The relaxation of the limits of the scope of use of the US ATACMS in Ukraine follows the whole pattern of the American approach in this war: to ensure that Ukraine cannot cause serious damage to Russia … ,” he said. “If it is true that the authorization of the use extends only to the Kursk region (so it is mainly aimed at North Korean soldiers); then, again, this is consistent with the pattern, and means that the overall results in the war will be insignificant.”