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Joe Biden has authorised Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles to strike hundreds of miles inside Russia for the first time, according to reports.
The decision is a major US policy shift and comes after Russia warned that Moscow would see the move to allow the use of US-made missiles “as a major escalation”. With Biden leaving office in two months President-elect Donald Trump has indicated he will limit American support for Ukraine and pledged end the war quickly once he takes office in January.
But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has campaigned for months to allow Ukraine’s military to use US weapons to hit Russian military targets far from its border, and retains important allies in both parties in the US Congress.
A national security council (NSC) spokesperson declined to comment when contacted by The Independent Sunday afternoon.
The change follows Russia’s deployment of North Korean ground troops to supplement its own forces, a development that has caused alarm in Washington and Kyiv.
The first deep strikes are likely to be carried out using ATACMS rockets, which have a range of up to 190 miles (306 km), according to the sources.
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 financial and military aid to Ukraine and has vowed to end the war quickly, without explaining how.
He also repeatedly slammed the Biden administration for giving Kyiv tens of billions of dollars in aid. His election victory has Ukraine’s international backers worrying that any rushed settlement would mostly benefit Putin.
Russia has warned that it would see a move to loosen the limits on Ukraine’s use of US weapons as a major escalation.
This is a breaking news story… More to follow…
