President Joe Biden’s administration has lifted restrictions that until now prevented Ukraine from using U.S.-supplied weapons to strike deep into Russian territory, three sources familiar with the decision said.
kyiv plans to carry out its first long-range attacks in the coming days, the sources added, without revealing details due to operational security concerns.
The White House declined to comment.
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A change in Washington policy
The decision taken by Joe Biden a little more than two months before his successor, Donald Trump, took office on January 20, responds to a long-standing request from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to be able to use American weapons to strike military targets far from its border, in particular the airfields used by the Russian air force to bomb Ukraine.
Washington’s change in policy comes as Moscow carried out a new massive missile strike against the Ukrainian energy network this Sunday, November 17.
It also follows the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia’s Kursk region to fight against the Ukrainian army, a development that has caused concern in Washington and kyiv.
Read also: “Sooner or later this will stop”: Ukrainians fighting despite a massive Russian strike
Des missiles ATACMS ?
The first deep strikes will likely be carried out using ATACMS missiles, which have a range of up to 306 km, according to the sources.
Although some U.S. officials have expressed skepticism that authorizing long-range strikes could change the overall trajectory of the war, the move could help Ukraine at a time when Russian forces are gaining ground and could place kyiv in a better negotiating position should ceasefire talks take place.
It is not certain that Donald Trump will reverse Joe Biden’s decision when he takes office, even if the president-elect is very critical of the scale of American financial and military aid to Ukraine and is committed to ending the war “in 24 hours” without explaining how.
The measure also benefits from the support of certain Republican elected officials in Congress, who have long called on President Biden to lift the restrictions imposed on Ukraine.
Russia has repeatedly repeated that it would consider any American decision in this direction as a “major escalation”.
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