[ad_1]
The decision comes after Russia deployed nearly 50,000 troops to Kursk, the southern Russian region where Kiev launched a surprise counter-offensive this summer, to prepare for the return of the territory.
Thousands of North Korean troops have been deployed to Kursk as part of the offensive, raising concerns from Biden and his advisers that their entry could usher in a dangerous new phase in the war.
The decision to allow the use of military tactical missile systems, or ATACMS, inside Russia has been under consideration for months. US officials were divided on the wisdom of allowing the new capability. Some were worried about the escalation of the war, while others were worried about the reduction of weapons stockpiles.
The US even refused to provide ATACMS to Ukraine for the first two years of the war, partly due to concerns about readiness since the powerful missiles take time and complex components to manufacture. But Biden secretly approved the transfer of ATACMS long-range missiles for use inside Ukrainian territory in February, and the US delivered the missiles in April.
Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky has pressed Washington to allow the use of weapons inside Russia as well, arguing that it needs the ability to gain momentum in its war effort.
When Biden and Zelensky last met at the White House in September, the Ukrainian leader came up with a detailed list of targets inside Russia that he wanted to hit with US-supplied long-range missiles, according to sources familiar with the meeting.
The list was a key part of Zelensky’s “victory plan” to win the war. Biden, who has barred the Ukrainians from deploying deep-strike missile systems against Russia for nearly three years of war, has not completely rejected the request, the sources said. But it ended up being non-binding and leaders agreed to continue discussing the issue.
The Ukrainians have already carried out several successful strikes deep inside Russia using their own long-range drones that have damaged Russia’s defense industrial base, US officials note — drones that have a far greater range than ATACMs.
U.S. officials have also said that Russia has moved some of its most valuable targets beyond ATACMS’s 180-mile (290-km) range anyway. The Ukrainians, however, claimed that there were many Russian assets within range, including military bases and production and logistics facilities.
The US and its allies have been working to ensure Ukraine has what it needs by the end of 2025 as a way to “Trump-proof” US security assistance. President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that the Ukrainian-Russian war would not have started if he had been commander-in-chief.
Zelensky said on Friday that the war “will end faster with the policies of this team that will now lead the White House,” referring to the incoming Trump administration.
Ukrainian defenders “bend, but do not break” in fierce battles
Trump said he could resolve the war in a day, but did not say how he would do it.
Biden’s approval comes after the US State Department said on Tuesday that 10,000 North Korean troops had been sent to Russia and had “begun to engage in combat operations with Russian forces” in the Kursk region, where a three-month Ukrainian military push has stalled.
A Ukrainian commander previously told CNN that North Korean troops were a “significant resource” for Moscow’s war against Ukraine, as even those deployed defensively would free up Russian troops for offensive operations elsewhere and would eventually be used in direct combat.
[ad_2]