Washington has given authorization to Ukraine to strike Russian territory with long-range missiles supplied by the United States, a US official said on Sunday, a major strategic change a few weeks before Donald comes to power. Trump.
The United States “has given the green light to the use of long-range missiles,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Maximum range of several hundred kilometers
Democratic President Joe Biden thus accedes to a long-standing request from kyiv shortly before his departure from the White House and the return of Republican Donald Trump, very critical of American aid to Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has for months called for permission to use British Storm Shadow missiles and American ATACMS missiles to strike targets further inside Russian territory.
These weapons 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. The U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles are initially expected to be used in the Russian border region of Kursk, where North Korean soldiers have been deployed in support of Russian troops, according to the New York Times, citing U.S. officials speaking under cover of anonymity.
The decision by Washington to authorize Ukraine to use these missiles came in reaction to this deployment of North Korean troops, according to these officials.
Allies
Several countries, including the United States, have until now refused to give such a green light, for fear of an escalation with Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that such a decision would mean that “NATO countries are at war with Russia”. The United States' decision could push other allies to follow suit, notably the United Kingdom.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose country is the second largest supplier of military aid to Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, tirelessly refuses to provide the long-range Taurus missiles requested by kyiv.
Poland, Ukraine's neighbor and one of its strongest supporters, welcomed the United States' decision. “To the entry into the war of North Korean troops and the massive Russian missile attack, President Biden responded with language that V. Putin understands,” said the head of Polish diplomacy, Radoslaw Sikorski, on X .
One of the largest Russian attacks
Because the American announcement comes on the same day as one of the most significant Russian attacks in recent months against Ukraine.
For John Hardy, of the American think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies, “allowing Ukraine to strike high priority targets through Russia could put kyiv in a better position for potential negotiations.” “Including by encouraging Moscow to accept a moratorium on strikes targeting critical energy infrastructure,” added this researcher specializing in Russia.
In his campaign to return to the White House, Donald Trump has been quick to criticize the tens of billions of dollars released by Washington for Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion.
End the war “in one day”
The elected president regularly claimed during the campaign that he could end the war “in one day”, even before taking office on January 20, without ever explaining how. Ukraine fears a weakening of American support, at a time when its troops are in difficulty on the front, or that an agreement involving territorial concessions to Russia will be imposed on it.
Outgoing President Joe Biden seeks to accelerate the delivery of military aid to kyiv and continues to put in place mechanisms for European allies to take over. NATO has already been entrusted with coordinating military aid to Ukraine, previously provided only by the Americans.
Of the envelope voted in the spring by the American Congress, there remains approximately 9.2 billion dollars to be allocated, namely 7.1 billion to be drawn from American arms stocks and 2.1 billion to finance procurement contracts. arms purchase, according to the Pentagon.
