In response to reports of President Biden authorizing long-range Ukrainian strikes inside Russia with US missiles, the Kremlin pointed to a warning previously made by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In September, Putin was asked about the possibility of NATO supporting long-range strikes on Russian territory and said it would mean the US and European NATO countries were “at war with Russia.” He added that if that’s “the case, then taking into account the change of nature of the conflict, we will take the appropriate decisions based on the threats that we will face.”
The New York Times and several other media outlets reported on Sunday that Biden gave Ukraine the greenlight to use US-provided Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), which have a range of up to 190 miles, in strikes on Russia. ATACMS are fired by US-provided HIMARS rocket systems, which require intelligence from the US to be fired, which means the US will be directly supporting strikes deep inside Russia.
So far, the reports haven’t been officially confirmed by the US or Ukraine, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hinted in his nightly address on Sunday that the missile strikes could start soon.
“Today, there’s a lot of talk in the media about us receiving permission for respective actions,” Zelensky said. “But strikes are not carried out with words. Such things are not announced. Missiles will speak for themselves. They certainly will.”
In his response on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said if the reports are true, it would mean “a qualitatively new round of escalation of tensions and a qualitatively new situation in terms of the involvement of the United States in this conflict.”
In other comments, Peskov said the escalation means more Western involvement in the war because “targeting, other maintenance is not done by Ukrainian servicemen, it is done by military specialists from these very Western countries.”
Other reports have said that the UK and France will allow Ukraine to use Storm Shadow/SCALP missiles, which have a range of 155 miles, in strikes on Russia. Earlier this year, a German military leak revealed that British soldiers are “on the ground” in Ukraine helping Ukrainian forces fire the Storm Shadow missiles.
The Telegraph recently reported that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were plotting to hamper the incoming Trump administration’s ability to wind down US support for the Ukraine proxy war. The report said they planned to pressure Biden to sign off on the long-range strikes.
The US media reports said Biden’s decision to authorize the long-range strikes was a response to North Korean troops allegedly entering the fighting against the invading Ukrainian force in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, a claim that hasn’t been confirmed by Moscow. US officials said the strikes are expected to be focused in Kursk but could also expand to other areas in Russia.
Putin has also made clear that US-supported long-range strikes in Russia risk nuclear war by ordering changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine. Under the new doctrine, an attack on Russia by a non-nuclear armed state that was supported by a nuclear power will be considered a joint attack.
