Moscow warns US against allowing Ukraine to strike Russian territory with long-range weapons – World News

Photo: Canadian Press

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters extinguish the fire after a Russian rocket attack hit a high-rise apartment building in Sumy, Ukraine, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (Ukrainian Emergency Service, via AP)

Kremlin warned on Monday President Joe Biden’s decision Allowing Ukraine to hit targets inside Russia with US-supplied long-range missiles “adds fuel to the fire” fight It will further escalate international tension.

Biden’s policy change added an uncertain new factor to the conflict on the eve of 1000 day milestone Since Russia begins its full-scale invasion in 2022.

The same incident occurred when Russia’s cluster bomb ballistic missile hit the Sumy settlement in northern Ukraine, killing 11 people and injuring 84 people. Another missile attack caused apartment fires in the southern port of Odessa, killing at least 10 people and wounding 43, Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said.

Washington loosens limits on strikes Ukraine can inflict with American-made weapons Army Tactical Missile System or ATACMsU.S. officials told The Associated Press on Sunday after months of ruling out such a move for fear it would escalate the conflict and lead to a direct conflict between Russia and NATO.

The Kremlin was quick to condemn.

“It is clear that the outgoing administration in Washington plans to take steps to continue fueling the fire and provoking further escalation of tensions around this conflict, and they are talking about it,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The scope of the new dismissal rules is unclear. However, the change came after the statement of the USA, South Korea and NATO. North Korean soldiers in Russia They are apparently being deployed to help Moscow expel Ukrainian troops from Russia’s Kursk border region.

Biden’s decision was triggered almost entirely by North Korea’s entry into the fray and was made just before he left for the annual meeting, according to a U.S. official who discussed internal deliberations on condition of anonymity. Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Peak in Peru.

Russia is slow too Pushing back Ukraine’s outnumbered army in the eastern Donetsk region. Also carried out a devastating air campaign Against civilian areas in Ukraine.

Peskov referred reporters to a statement President Vladimir Putin made in September in which he said allowing Ukraine to target Russia would significantly increase the risk.

Putin said at the time that this would “dramatically change the nature of the conflict.” “This would mean that NATO countries (the United States and European countries) are at war with Russia.”

Peskov claimed that Western countries that provide long-range weapons also provide targeting services to Kiev. “This fundamentally changes the way they engage in conflict,” he said.

Putin warned Moscow in June can provide longer range weapons If NATO allows Ukraine’s allies to use their weapons to attack Russian territory, others will strike Western targets. After signing a deal with North Korea, Putin made an open threat to supply weapons to Pyongyang, which Moscow said may reflect Western arguments that it is up to Ukraine to decide how to use them.

Putin said: “Westerners supply Ukraine with weapons and say: ‘We no longer control anything here, and it doesn’t matter how they are used.’ We can also say: ‘We supplied something to someone, and then we do not control anything.’ Let them think about it.”

Putin also confirmed that Moscow is ready to use nuclear weapons if it sees a threat to its sovereignty.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Biden’s move “will mean the direct involvement of the United States and its satellites in military action against Russia, as well as a radical change in the essence and nature of the conflict.”

President Donald Trump, who will take office on January 20, expressed uncertainty about whether his administration will continue military support to Ukraine. He also promised a quick end to the war.

“The missiles will speak for themselves,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday, in a muted response to the approval that he and his government have been demanding for more than a year.

“The longer Ukraine can attack, the shorter the war will be,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Monday ahead of the landmark 1,000th meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who chaired the meeting, declined to comment when asked whether the UK would follow the US in allowing the use of long-range missiles. Doing so, he said, would “risk operational security and only play into Putin’s hands.”

The consequences of the new policy are uncertain. With a range of about 300 kilometers (190 miles), ATACMS can reach well behind the front lines of about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) in Ukraine, but has a relatively short range compared to other types of ballistic and cruise missiles.

Patrick Bury, senior associate professor of security at the University of Bath in the United Kingdom, said the policy change was “too late to have a major strategic impact.”

“The ultimate effect of this will probably be to slow down the tempo of Russian attacks that are taking place right now,” he said, adding that Ukraine could strike targets in Kursk or logistics centers or command headquarters.

Jennifer Kavanagh, director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, acknowledged that the U.S. action would not change the course of the war, stating that Ukraine “will need large stockpiles of ATACMS and will not be able to obtain those stockpiles due to the United States’ own supply.” is limited.”

Director of Military Science Matthew Savill said that on a political level the move “is a boost for the Ukrainians and gives them a window of opportunity to show that they can still survive and are worth supporting as Trump prepares to take office.” at the Royal United Services Institute in London.

The sign of the policy change was the arrival of North Korean troops in Russia, according to Glib Voloskyi, an analyst at the CBA Enterprise Center, a Kiev-based think tank.

“This is a signal that the Biden administration is sending to North Korea and Russia that the decision to involve North Korean units has crossed the red line,” he said.

Russian lawmakers and state media criticized the West for what they called a step that escalated tensions and threatened a harsh response.

MP Leonid Slutsky told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti: “It seems that Biden has decided to end his presidential term and go down in history as ‘Bloody Joe’.”

Vladimir Dzhabarov, deputy chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the upper house of parliament, called it “a very big step towards the start of World War III” and “an attempt to reduce Trump’s degree of freedom.”

Russian newspapers made similar apocalyptic predictions. “The crazy people who dragged NATO into a direct conflict with our country may soon suffer greatly,” said Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

Some NATO allies welcomed the move.

Polish President Andrzej Duda, on the Ukrainian border, praised the decision as “very important, perhaps even a turning point” in the war.

“In recent days, we have seen a decisive intensification of Russia’s attacks on Ukraine, first of all missile strikes in which civilian objects are attacked, ordinary Ukrainians are killed,” Duda said.

Foreign Minister of Russia’s neighbor Estonia, Margus Tsahkna, said that the easing of restrictions on Ukraine was “a good thing”.

“We have been saying from the beginning that there should be no restrictions on military support,” he said in a speech to senior European Union diplomats in Brussels. “And we need to understand that the situation is more serious than it was a few months ago.”

However, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, known for his pro-Russian views, described Biden’s decision as “unprecedented tension” that will prolong the war.