Outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden has reportedly approved the use of long-range American missiles by Ukraine to strike within the Russian mainland, in a move which may escalate the conflict two months before President-Elect Donald Trump comes into office with a mandate to seek a peace settlement.
According to reports from the Democrat-aligned Washington Post and New York Times newspapers, both citing unnamed U.S. officials, lame-duck President Joe Biden has lifted restrictions barring Ukraine from using American Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles to strike targets within Russia.
The Biden White House previously approved the use of ATACMS by Kyiv to strike Russian targets within Ukrainian territory, including Russian-occupied lands such as Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Moscow under the Obama administration in 2014. The Biden administration had also approved the use of shorter-range American missiles for limited cross-border strikes within Russia.
However, President Biden had been hesitant to permit the Ukrainians to use ATACMS within Russia for fear of escalating the conflict, with reported concerns over the world’s largest nuclear power potentially using more powerful weapons within Ukraine, Moscow increasing assistance to American adversaries such as the Islamist regime in Iran or to the Houthi terrorists in Yemen in their quest to disrupt global shipping.
The apparent about-face from the Biden administration may be seen as an attempt to undermine peace efforts by incoming President Donald Trump, who has already embarked upon unofficial diplomatic efforts to fulfil his promise of negotiating an end to the war.
Shortly after securing victory in last week’s elections, Mr Trump held calls with principal players in the conflict, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Reports also claimed that the present-elect spoke with Vladimir Putin and urged him not to escalate the war before the transition of power in Washington. The Kremlin has denied the call took place.
While Mr Trump has not publicly revealed his negotiating strategy, allies, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, have suggested that the future 47th President would likely seek to withhold funding for Ukraine to pressure Zelensky to the negotiating table. Zelensky has said that he would be unwilling to agree to any deal which included ceding land that Ukrainian forces have so far failed to recapture from Russian control.
With the expectation of Trump using purse strings to pressure Kyiv into accepting a more realistic compromise, there have been efforts on both sides of the Atlantic to secure funding sources for Zelensky to continue the fight.
Speaking from Brussels on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: “President Biden has committed to making sure that every dollar we have at our disposal will be pushed out the door between now and January 20th.”
Meanwhile, over the weekend, the G7 nations of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States jointly vowed “enduring support for Ukraine” and to back Kyiv for “as long as it takes“.
The ‘Weimar Triangle’ alliance of France, Germany, and Poland are also expected to meet alongside the UK and others next week to discuss potentially increasing European funding for the war if the incoming Trump administration seeks to limit aid to Ukraine. It is unclear, however, how much popular support would be for such a move, given the budget crises currently bedevilling the left-wing governments in Berlin, London, and Paris.
The reports of the Biden White House approving long-range missile strikes came after Moscow launched a large-scale attack across Ukraine on Saturday, with President Zelensky saying that Russia had launched a total of 120 missiles and 90 drones against Ukrainian infrastructure targets.
Both the New York Times and Washington Post implied that the decision by Biden to approve ATACMS strikes in Russia was prompted by North Korean troops entering Russia and potentially joining the conflict rather than a desire to impede Trump’s peace efforts.
According to the unnamed U.S. officials, the ATACMS strikes would be initially limited to the Kursk region of Russia, where Ukraine launched a surprise incursion over the summer and where North Korean forces are said to be amassing. However, the reports said President Biden may still approve strikes elsewhere within Russia while he remains in office.