Ukraine: Moscow reacts to missile launches

The authorization given to kyiv by Joe Biden to use long-range American missiles on Russian territory is likely to “pour fuel on the fire” in the conflict in Ukraine, the spokesperson for the Ukraine said on Monday. Kremlin Dmitry Peskov.

If it were to be officially confirmed by Washington, this authorization would lead to “a fundamentally new situation in terms of the involvement of the United States in this conflict”, Mr. Peskov further warned. In September, Vladimir Putin warned that such a Western green light “would mean nothing less than direct involvement of NATO countries in the war in Ukraine.”

Washington’s decision was announced by the American media and confirmed to AFP by an American official, after a new weekend of massive and deadly Russian strikes on Ukraine and just a few weeks before the transfer of power between the outgoing President Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

According to Dmitri Peskov, quoting Mr. Putin, strikes on Russian territory would “not be carried out by Ukraine, but by the countries which give authorization”.

“The coordinates of the targets are not provided by the Ukrainian military, but by specialists from these Western countries. This radically changes the nature of their involvement,” he repeated.

“It is obvious that the outgoing administration in Washington intends to take measures to continue to add fuel to the fire and provoke a further rise in tensions,” Dmitri Peskov said on Monday.

The outgoing US administration has been kyiv’s main supporter, enabling it to resist Russian troops since Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale assault on Ukraine in February 2022.

The sustainability of this support from Washington has been called into question by the election to the presidency of Donald Trump, whose campaign declarations have made Ukraine and its supporters fear that he is seeking to force kyiv to stop the fighting. at the cost of concessions unacceptable to her.

Moscow, whose troops have been advancing for several months on multiple segments of the front, has warned that any discussion of stopping the fighting could only be based on “new territorial realities”.

Italy refuses the use of long-range weapons

Italy reaffirmed on Monday its refusal to see the weapons it supplies to Ukraine be used outside its territory. France, for its part, affirms that it is an “option”.

“Our position on the use of weapons by Ukraine does not change. They can only be used inside Ukrainian territory,” Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on the sidelines of a meeting of EU foreign policy chiefs in Brussels.

“Nothing new under the sun,” said his French counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot. “You heard President (Emmanuel) Macron in Meseberg (Germany) on May 25, where we openly said that it was an option that we were taking into consideration, if it was necessary to authorize strikes on targets from which the Russians are attacking Ukrainian territory.”

France has supplied medium-range Scalp-type surface-to-air missiles to Ukraine, but has always refused to indicate how many had been delivered and whether they had been used by Ukrainian forces.

This double focus comes as Washington has just authorized Ukraine to strike Russian territory with long-range missiles provided by the United States, according to an American official, a major strategic change a few weeks before arrival in power of Donald Trump.

These missiles with a maximum range of several hundred kilometers would allow Ukraine to reach logistical sites of the Russian army and airfields from which its bombers take off.

Mr. Tajani also declared himself “in favor of a peace conference in the presence of Russians, Chinese, Indians and Brazilians”. “I hope that Beijing can play a positive role in making Moscow understand that this senseless war must be stopped,” he added. “Certainly, the presence of North Korean soldiers is not a good signal,” he said.

Germany to deliver 4,000 sophisticated drones to Ukraine

Germany, which refuses the delivery of long-range missiles requested by kyiv, will provide 4,000 sophisticated drones to Ukraine in difficulty against Russia, the Minister of Defense announced on Monday.

“These are drones controlled by artificial intelligence (AI) and which can disable the electronic defenses of opposing drones,” Minister Boris Pistorius explained to the press.

These 4,000 units, “deliverable very quickly” would be able to act over a range of “30, 40 km” in Russian territory and “attack combat posts, logistical nodes and others,” he said. added, considering that they constituted “an important additional asset for the Ukrainian armed forces”.

Berlin announced in June the delivery of thousands of drones to kyiv, without specifying their technical characteristics. The high-tech drones are manufactured by Helsing, a European company specializing in defense AI which concluded a contract with the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense in September, according to the daily Bild.

The AI-controlled drones are nicknamed “mini Taurus”, says Bild, in reference to the German Taurus cruise missile, with a range of more than 500 kilometers, the delivery of which the Ukrainian government has requested on several occasions, but in vain.

A comparison rejected by the Ministry of Defense. “These drones are tactical drones with a limited range and the link made with the Taurus does not exist,” Natalie Jenning, a spokesperson for the ministry, said on Monday.

ATS/AFP

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