Biden Authorizes Ukraine To Strike Russia With US Long-Range Weapons

President Joe Biden has given Ukraine the green light to use US-supplied missiles to strike deeper inside Russia. This critical move by the Biden administration is a major reversal of Washington's policy in the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict. The decision comes as Russia deployed thousands of North Korean troops to reinforce its war.

Biden allowing Ukraine to use the long-range missiles, known as the Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, comes two months before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Meanwhile, officials told The New York Times that the weapons are likely to be initially employed against Russian and North Korean troops in defense of Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region of western Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky had been pressing the US administration for a long time to allow use of the weapons inside Russia. The US refused to even provide ATACMS, which has the capacity to reach up to 300 km, to Ukraine for the first two years of the war. Biden approved the transfer of the long-range ATACMS missiles in February, and the US delivered it in April. At the same time, President-elect Donald Trump described the military support to Ukraine as a drain on US resources and has signalled that he will end the war, without explaining how it would happen. The United States has been the greatest supplier of arms to Ukraine.