After several months of requests from kyiv, Washington has just given its approval to strike Russia. Joe Biden authorized Ukraine to use its long-range missiles.
Will the war in Ukraine take a new turn? While Russia launched numerous airstrikes on Sunday morning, even going so far as to worry Poland and cause power outages in many Ukrainian regions, Joe Biden gave Volodymyr Zelensky authorization to retaliate. The American president has given the green light for Ukraine to strike Russian territory with American long-range missiles, the MGM-140 ATACMS surface-to-surface missiles.
As BFMTV reports, Ukraine had, until now, only authorization to strike Russian positions in occupied Ukrainian territory, in annexed Crimea and on the border. This represents a new opportunity for Ukraine to attack its opponent, and no longer defend itself only against its offensives. These missiles are stealthy, capable of hitting targets 300 kilometers away and travel at close to the speed of sound.
An authorization before Trump came to power
The calendar is not trivial around this announcement. If on Sunday, Ukraine assured that it wanted to do everything to ensure that the war ends in 2025, there is also something new on the United States side. The election of Donald Trump to the White House has reshuffled the cards, since the president-elect has already been very critical of military aid to Ukraine. His coming to power in January could be synonymous with a drastic reduction in this aid, which is nevertheless essential to Ukraine's defense.
More muscular help could also come from the United Kingdom or France, which have already sent cruise missiles to Ukraine to strike Russian targets in Crimea. On Sunday, Emmanuel Macron assured that Vladimir Putin “does not want peace and is not ready to negotiate it”. Germany, for its part, still says it is against sending this type of long-range missiles. Moreover, Vladimir Putin had already spoken on this subject in 2023, when these missiles had been delivered to Ukraine. He assured that authorizing their use on Russian soil would mean that “the NATO countries are at war with Russia”.
published on November 18 at 7:04 a.m., Philippine Rouviere Flamand, 6Medias
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