Biden Approves Ukraine’s Use Of Long-Range US Weapons In Russia

As North Korean forces move in to help Moscow’s endeavor, a senior U.S. official familiar with the decision said that President Joe Biden has given Ukraine permission to use potent long-range American missiles inside Russia.

The decision was made as Russia prepared to retake land by sending close to 50,000 troops to Kursk, the southern Russian area where Kyiv launched its unexpected counteroffensive in the summer.

Biden and his advisors are worried that the offensive’s deployment of thousands of North Korean troops to Kursk could usher in a perilous new stage in the conflict.

The choice to permit the Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to be used within Russia had been under consideration for months. American officials had been divided on the wisdom of allowing the new capability. Some had concerns about escalating the war, while others worried about dwindling stockpiles of the weapons.

The US refused to even provide ATACMS to Ukraine for the first two years of the war, in part because of readiness concerns as the powerful missiles require time and complex components to produce. But Biden secretly approved the transfer of the long-range ATACMS missiles in February for use inside Ukrainian territory, and the US delivered the missiles in April.

Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky had been pressing Washington to allow use of the weapons inside Russia, too, arguing he needed the capability to gain momentum in his war effort.

When Biden and Zelensky last met at the White House in September, the Ukrainian leader came with a detailed list of targets inside Russia that he wanted to hit with US-provided long-range missiles, according to sources familiar with the meeting.

The list was a key part of Zelensky’s “victory plan” for winning the war. Biden, who nearly three years into the war had prohibited the Ukrainians from deploying the missile systems for deep strikes into Russia, was not entirely dismissive of the request, the sources said. But he was ultimately noncommittal, and the leaders agreed to keep discussing the issue.

The Ukrainians have already conducted several successful strikes deep inside Russia using their own long-range drones that have damaged Russia’s defense industrial base, US officials note — drones that have a far longer range than the ATACMs.

US officials have also said Russia has moved some of its most valuable targets outside the ATACMS’ 180-mile range, anyway. The Ukrainians have argued, though, that there are plenty of Russian assets within range, including military bases and production and logistics facilities.

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