US President Joe Biden embraces Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as they visit the Wall of Remembrance to honor Ukrainian soldiers killed, amid the Russian attack on Ukraine, in Kiev, Ukraine, February 20, 2023.
Ukrainian Presidential Press Service | Via Reuters
Two American officials and an informed source said on Sunday that the administration of President Joe Biden allowed Ukraine to use American-made weapons to strike deep into Russia, in a major shift in Washington’s policy in the Ukrainian-Russian conflict.
The sources said that Ukraine is planning to launch its first long-range attacks in the coming days, without revealing details due to operational security concerns.
The move comes two months before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20, and after months of appeals from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to allow the Ukrainian military to use American weapons to strike Russian military targets far from its borders.
A US official and a source familiar with the matter said that this change comes largely in response to Russia's deployment of North Korean ground forces to supplement its forces, a development that has raised concern in Washington and Kiev.
The White House and State Department declined to comment. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and the President's Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Russia warned that it would see a move to ease restrictions on Ukraine's use of US weapons as a major escalation.
The first deep strikes on Ukraine will likely be carried out using ATACMS missiles, which have a range of up to 190 miles (306 km), according to the sources.
While some US officials have expressed doubts that allowing long-range strikes would change the overall course of the war, the decision could help Ukraine at a time when Russian forces are making gains and perhaps put Kiev in a better negotiating position when ceasefire talks take place.
It is not clear whether Trump will reverse Biden's decision when he takes office. Trump has long criticized the amount of US financial and military aid to Ukraine, and has pledged to quickly end the war, without explaining how to do so.
Trump's spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Richard Grenell, one of Trump's closest foreign policy advisers, criticized the decision.
“Step up the wars before he leaves office,” Grenell said in an X post in response to the news.
Some Republicans in Congress have urged Biden to relax rules on how Ukraine can use weapons provided by the United States.
Since Trump's victory on November 5, senior Biden administration officials have repeatedly said they will use the remaining time to ensure Ukraine can fight effectively next year or negotiate peace with Russia from a “position of strength.”
“It's too late”
The United States believes that more than 10,000 North Korean soldiers were sent to eastern Russia and that most of them moved to the Kursk region and began participating in combat operations.
Russia is advancing at its fastest pace since 2022 despite suffering heavy losses, and Ukraine said it clashed with some North Korean forces deployed in Kursk.
Undermanned, Ukrainian forces have lost some territory they captured in an August incursion into Kursk, which Zelensky said could serve as a bargaining chip.
“Removing restrictions on targeting would allow the Ukrainians to stop fighting with their hands tied behind their backs,” said Alex Plitsas, a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.
“However, like everything else, I think history will say that the decision came too late. Just like the ATACMS, HIMARS, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, Abrams tanks, and F-16s. They were all needed much sooner,” he added.
Despite Zelensky's pleas, the White House has been reluctant to allow US-supplied weapons to be used to strike targets deep inside Russia for fear it would escalate the conflict.
Kiev's other allies are supplying Russia with weapons but with restrictions on how and when they can be used inside Russia, fearing that such strikes could trigger retaliations that would drag NATO countries into war or spark a nuclear conflict.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski also described the move as a response to North Korea's involvement.
“President Biden responded to the entry of North Korean forces into the war and the massive Russian missile strike in a language that Putin understands — by removing restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Western missiles,” Sikorsky said on Channel X.
