War in Ukraine | Biden accused of throwing “fuel on the fire”, strike kills 10 in Odessa

(Kyiv) The Kremlin warned on Monday of a new escalation after the green light given to Kyiv by the United States to use its long-range missiles against Russia, while a new Russian strike made the least 10 dead and dozens injured in Odessa.

Demanded by Kyiv for months, Joe Biden’s decision was confirmed to AFP on Sunday by an American official, after a new weekend of massive and deadly Russian bombings on Ukraine and just a few weeks before the entry in his functions in Donald Trump’s White House, considered less inclined to help Kyiv.

“The outgoing administration in Washington intends to take measures to continue to add fuel to the fire and provoke a further rise in tensions,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov accused on Monday.

This authorization would lead to “a fundamentally new situation in terms of US involvement in this conflict,” he warned.

Decision considered late

A senior Ukrainian presidential official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed to AFP that the US agreement on long-range missiles was only given to Kyiv after Russia had received the reinforcement of thousands of North Korean soldiers. But he considered it to be far too late, Ukraine having been in difficulty on the front for more than a year.

“It is clear that the North Korean contingent was a reality which made the absence of this authorization […] completely ludicrous. But this decision was necessary a year ago,” insisted this official.

However, he refused to predict the impact of this gesture on the battlefield: “We will see what it will be.”

On the ground, in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian soldiers, forced to give up ground almost every day, were doubtful.

The American decision “probably comes too late”, one of them, serving in the Pokrovsk area, a rail and road junction in eastern Ukraine which the Russians are getting closer to, told AFP. day by day.

Moscow claimed Monday the conquest of a new village, that of Novooleksiïvka, located approximately 15 kilometers south of Pokrovsk.

President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Monday that he had visited his troops defending Pokrovsk. “It’s a tense area. It is only thanks to the strength of the soldiers that the East is not completely occupied by Russia,” he commented.

Furthermore, according to several media, the American green light could be limited to strikes against the Russian region of Kursk partially controlled by the Ukrainian army and where North Korean troops would be deployed.

Joe Biden’s government has been Ukraine’s main supporter, allowing it to resist Russian troops since the invasion launched in February 2022.

Ten dead in Odessa

The sustainability of this support from Washington has been called into question by the election to the presidency of Donald Trump, whose campaign declarations make Kyiv and its supporters fear that he will seek to make Ukraine make unacceptable concessions. for her.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose troops are advancing on multiple segments of the front, has warned that any discussion on an end to the fighting could only be based on “new territorial realities”.

Shortly before the November 5 US elections, Russia began intensifying its deadly strikes on civilian areas in its neighbor, a tactic seen by many in Kyiv as an attempt to break the spirit of Ukrainians, exhausted by nearly three years of war, with a view to possible negotiations.

A Russian missile attack in broad daylight on Monday left at least ten dead and 43 injured, including four children, in Odessa, a port city located on the Black Sea, far from the front line, according to the authorities.

Seven police officers, a caregiver and two residents of this city were among those killed, said the regional governor, Oleg Kiper.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the Russians fired an Iskander-M ballistic missile at Odessa. The projectile was shot down by the anti-aircraft defense, but its fragments fell on a residential area.

Already on Sunday, 11 Ukrainians, including two children, died in the bombing of a residential building in Sumy, a city in northeastern Ukraine. This country has also suffered a new massive Russian attack against its energy installations.

The latter having inflicted significant damage on the network, the Ukrainian authorities announced Monday cuts in the electricity supply to the population, a first in months.