The administration of President Joe Biden allowed Ukraine to use US-made weapons to attack deep into Russia, two US officials and a source familiar with the decision said on Sunday, in a major shift in Washington’s policy on the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
Ukraine plans to carry out its first long-range attack in the coming days, the sources said, without disclosing details due to security concerns.
The move comes two months before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20 and follows months of pleas from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to allow the Ukrainian military to use US weapons to strike Russian military bases far from its border.
The change comes largely because of Russia’s deployment of ground troops to North Korea to supplement its forces, a development that has caused alarm in Washington and Kyiv, a US official and a source familiar with the decision said.
The White House and the State Department declined to comment. Ukraine’s foreign ministry and the president’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Russia has warned that it will see a move to loosen restrictions on Ukraine’s use of US weapons as a major escalation.
Ukraine’s first deep strikes are likely to be carried out using ATACMS rockets, which have a range of up to 190 miles (306 km), according to sources.
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Although some US officials have expressed doubts that allowing long-range strikes will change the course of the war, the decision could help Ukraine at a time when Russian forces are gaining ground and possibly put Kyiv in a better negotiating position when and if talks to end the war do take place.
It is not clear whether Trump will reverse Biden’s decision if he takes office. Trump has long criticized the level of US financial and military aid to Ukraine and has vowed to end the war quickly, without explaining how.
A spokesman for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But one of Trump’s closest foreign policy advisers, Richard Grenell, criticized the decision.
“Expanding the wars before he leaves office,” said Grenell, in an X post in response to the news.
Some Republicans in Congress had urged Biden to loosen rules on how Ukraine can use US-provided weapons.
Since he won Nov. 5, senior officials of the Biden administration have repeatedly said that they will use the remaining time to ensure that Ukraine can successfully fight next year or negotiate peace with Russia from a “position of strength.”
The US believes that more than 10,000 North Korean soldiers have been sent to eastern Russia and that most of them have moved to the Kursk region and have begun participating in combat operations.
Russia has been advancing at a rapid pace since 2022 despite heavy losses, and Ukraine has said it has dealt with some of the North Korean troops sent to Kursk.
Due to manpower shortages, Ukrainian forces lost another area they had taken during the Kursk raid in August, which Zelenskiy said could serve as a bargaining chip.
“Removing targeting restrictions will allow Ukrainians to stop fighting with one hand tied behind their backs,” said Alex Plitsas, non-resident official at the Atlantic Council.
“However, like everything else, I believe that history will say that the decision came too late. Like ATACMS, HIMARS, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, Abrams Tanks and F-16. They were all urgently needed,” he added.
Despite Zelenskiy’s urging, the White House has been reluctant to allow US-supplied weapons to be used to attack targets inside Russia for fear that this could escalate the conflict.
Some of Kyiv’s allies have been providing weapons but there are restrictions on how and when they can be used inside Russia, due to concerns that the strikes could trigger retaliation that draws NATO countries into war or sparks a nuclear conflict.
Poland’s foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, also called this a response to North Korea’s involvement.
“President Biden responded to the entry of North Korean troops into the war and the massive Russian missile strike in a language that V. Putin understands – by removing restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Western missiles,” Sikorski told X.
