Ukraine says no warning on US-approved ATACMS strikes, Kremlin reacts
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The news: Ukraine welcomed President Joe Biden’s decision to allow long-range strikes inside Russia using US-supplied missiles, a move Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested would lead to imminent unannounced strikes.
But on Monday, the Kremlin warned the authorisation was a major step towards a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO, the New York Times reported.
The permission reportedly allows Ukraine to deploy the ATACMS ballistic missile system (Army Tactical Missile System) with a range of 190 miles (306 kilometres) to defend the foothold it seized in Russia’s Kursk region in August.
The context: The policy shift follows months of lobbying by Kyiv and comes amid increasing pressure from Russia and its new ally, North Korea, whose troops are aiding in the fight in the Kursk region.
European leaders, including the EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, and Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock, expressed support of the decision. But uncertainty remains regarding whether Britain and France will follow suit by allowing Ukraine to use Storm Shadow/SCALP cruise missiles, which have a range of 250 km, to strike Russia.
Analysts noted that while the approval may bolster Ukraine’s defence of Kursk, it is unlikely to shift the war’s overall course due to limited missile supplies.
Biden’s approval also comes just two months before he leaves office. President-elect Donald Trump, less sympathetic of Ukraine, has long criticised the scale of US aid to Kyiv and has vowed to end the war quickly, without specifying how.
What they said: “This escalates tensions to a qualitatively new level,” Dmitri Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, told reporters on Monday. The decision represented “a qualitatively new situation in terms of the United States’ involvement in this conflict,” he added, referring to the war in Ukraine.
During his Sunday address, Zelenskyy suggested the first strikes using the missiles would have no warning. “Such things are not announced. The rockets will speak for themselves.”
The sources: The New York Times, Reuters, The Financial Times
