The Kremlin announced on Monday that President Joe Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to hit targets inside Russia with US military long-range missiles is “fuel to the fire” and will exacerbate international tensions.
Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to employ US military long-range missiles to strike deep within Russia has raised concerns about growing tensions, with many fearing that this decision could lead to world conflict.
On Monday, with less than two months remaining in office, President Joe Biden authorized American-provided Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to strike deep within Russia.
“It is obvious that the outgoing administration in Washington intends to take steps and they have been talking about this, to continue adding fuel to the fire and provoking further escalation of tensions around this conflict,” said Peskov, the spokesman for the president.
Peskov reminded journalists of a September statement by President Vladimir Putin, who stated that enabling Ukraine to target Russia would dramatically raise the stakes.
It would alter “the very nature of the conflict dramatically,” Putin stated. This would mean that NATO countries, the United States, and European countries would be at war with Russia.”
Peskov asserted that Western countries that deliver longer-range weaponry also provide targeting services to Kyiv. “This fundamentally changes the modality of their involvement in the conflict,” he said.
Ukraine War Escalation
In June, Putin threatened that if NATO permitted Ukraine to utilize the arsenal of its partners to attack Russian territory, Moscow would send longer-range weapons to others to strike Western targets.
“The Westerners supply weapons to Ukraine and say: ‘We do not control anything here anymore and it does not matter how they are used.'” Putin had said. “We can also say, ‘We supplied something to someone — and now we have no control over anything.'” “And let them think about it.”
Putin again emphasized Moscow’s willingness to deploy nuclear weapons if it perceived a threat to its sovereignty.
Biden’s decision will “mean the direct involvement of the United States and its satellites in military action against Russia, as well as a radical change in the essence and nature of the conflict,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry stated.
The new policy has unpredictable consequences. ATACMS, with a range of roughly 300 kilometers (190 miles), can travel deep behind Ukraine’s 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line, although their range is modest compared to other types of ballistic and cruise missiles.
President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on January 20, has not responded, but he won the election on promises to stop the conflict, and some people close to him have decried the action as a hazardous escalation.
Missile Decision Sparks Anger
The Military Industrial Complex appears to want to start World War III before my father has a chance to restore peace and rescue lives. We need to lock in those $Trillions. Life be damned!! Imbeciles!” Donald Trump Jr., the President-elect’s son, posted on X
“On his way out of office, Joe Biden is dangerously trying to start WWIII by authorizing Ukraine to use U.S. long-range missiles against Russia,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., on X. “The American people gave a mandate on November 5 against these exact American last decisions.”
Rebekah Koffler, a former Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) officer and author of “Putin’s Playbook,” speculated that the stories were a “trial balloon to disrupt Trump” and that Biden may not have authorized the ATACMS strikes yet.
According to Dani Belo, PhD, Director of Security and International Relations at Global Policy Horizons Research Lab, Ukraine’s ability to currently hit Russian territory has the potential to escalate the war with Russia.
However, Donald Trump’s victory is likely to moderate the escalation.
There is speculation that Donald Trump’s administration would restrict military hardware deliveries to Ukraine, putting political pressure on Kyiv to resolve the crisis. This implies Ukraine has no motivation to escalate now and lose its fighting capability in a matter of months.
Russia sees no reason to escalate the situation at this time. Moscow expects that Trump’s administration will try to finish the war soon, so the Kremlin will likely take a wait-and-see approach until the new presidential administration takes office without significantly escalating the conflict. As a result, any escalation is unlikely.
Source: AP
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