Biden allows Ukraine to use US missiles to strike inside Russia

US President Joe Biden and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shake hands during a bilateral meeting, during NATO's 75th anniversary summit, in Washington, US, Jul 11, 2024. (Photo: Reuters/Leah Millis)
WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden's administration has allowed Ukraine to use long-range US missiles against targets inside Russia, a significant reversal of Washington's policy in the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
Ukraine plans to conduct its first long-range attacks in the coming days, two US officials and a source familiar with the decision said on Sunday (Nov 17), without revealing details due to operational security concerns.
Biden's decision to authorise Ukraine to use the powerful Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) to target Russian territory is a bold shift in position in the final months before he hands over power to President-elect Donald Trump on Jan 20.
The New York Times and The Washington Post, which first reported the news, said the 81-year-old Democrat's shift came in response to North Korean troops being deployed to help Moscow's war effort against its neighbour.
Previously, US officials had worried about the danger of escalating the conflict with nuclear-armed Russia, as well as the risk of depleting Washington's own stocks of the valuable munitions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his evening address that the missiles would "speak for themselves".
"Today, many in the media are saying that we have received permission to take appropriate actions," he said. "But strikes are not made with words. Such things are not announced."
The White House and US State Department declined to comment.
Russia has warned that it would see a move to loosen the limits on Ukraine's use of US weapons as a major escalation.
Washington's decision to let Ukraine strike deep into Russia with long-range US missiles could lead to World War III and will receive a swift response, Vladimir Dzhabarov, first deputy head of the Russian upper house's international affairs committee, said, according to the TASS news agency.
It is unclear how many ATACMS remain in Ukraine's arsenal.
The missile is made by US defence group Lockheed Martin and has a top range of 300km.
Putin has warned that the use of ATACMS inside Russia would mean the NATO alliance being "at war" with his country - a threat he made previously when Ukraine's Western backers escalated their military assistance.

While some US officials have expressed scepticism that allowing long-range strikes will change the war's overall trajectory, the decision could help Ukraine at a moment when Russian forces are making gains and possibly put Kyiv in a better negotiating position when and if ceasefire talks happen.
It is not clear if Trump will reverse Biden's decision when he takes office. Trump has long criticised the scale of US financial and military aid to Ukraine and has vowed to end the war quickly, without explaining how.
Some congressional Republicans had urged Biden to loosen the rules on how Ukraine can use US-provided weapons.
Since Trump's Nov 5 victory, senior Biden administration officials have repeatedly said they would use the remaining time to ensure Ukraine can fight effectively next year or negotiate peace with Russia from a "position of strength".
A Trump spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But one of Trump's closest foreign policy advisers, Richard Grenell, criticised the decision.
"Escalating the wars before he leaves office," Grenell said, in an X post responding to the news.
Trump's pick for his National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, said recently that "pouring more billions in (to Ukraine) is the definition of insanity at this point," adding that the conflict was a "stalemate".
Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, has even mocked Zelenskyy online, sharing a clip on Instagram last weekend that said the Ukrainian leader was just weeks away "from losing your allowance".
Writing Sunday about Biden's missile decision, he said "the military industrial complex seems to want to make sure they get World War III going before my father has a chance to create peace and save lives".

"WAY TOO LATE"
The US believes more than 10,000 North Korean soldiers have been sent to eastern Russia and that most of them have moved to the Kursk region and have begun to engage in combat operations.
Russia is advancing at its fastest rate since 2022 despite taking heavy losses, and Ukraine said it had clashed with some of those North Korean troops deployed to Kursk.
Stretched by personnel shortages, Ukrainian forces have lost some of the ground they captured in an August incursion into Kursk that Zelenskyy said could serve as a bargaining chip.
"Removing targeting restrictions will allow the Ukrainians to stop fighting with one hand tied behind their back," Alex Plitsas, senior non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council, said.
"However, like everything else, I believe history will say the decision came way too late. Just like the ATACMS, HIMARS, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, Abrams Tanks and F-16. They were all needed much sooner," he added.
Despite Zelenskyy's pleas, the White House had been reluctant to allow US-supplied weapons to be used to strike targets deep inside Russia for fear this could escalate the conflict.
Kyiv's other allies have been supplying weapons but with restrictions on how and when they can be used inside Russia, out of concern such strikes could prompt retaliation that draws NATO countries into the war or provokes a nuclear conflict.
EUROPEAN MOVES
The American shift is likely to lead European allies to review their stances on long-range missiles, even though experts say the weapons alone will not decisively tilt current battlefield dynamics.
France and Britain have provided Ukraine with their long-range Storm Shadow and SCALP missiles, but have held back from authorising their use inside Russia without American approval for ATACMS.
During a meeting with French leader Emmanuel Macron on Monday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain discussed how to put Ukraine in "the strongest possible position going into the winter", his office said afterwards.
Speaking in Argentina on Sunday, Macron said Putin "does not want peace" and that "it's clear that President Putin intends to intensify the fighting".
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has refused to supply Ukraine with his country's Taurus missiles with a range of over 500km over fears that they could hit Russian territory.