Washington risks escalating the conflict by giving Kiev permission to use US long-range weapons against Russia, Dmitry Peskov has said
© Getty Images/Hans Neleman Reports that US President Joe Biden has permitted Kiev to conduct long-range strikes using donated American weapons, if confirmed, indicate a dramatic escalation of the conflict, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. Several news outlets claimed on Sunday that Biden had agreed to further reduce restrictions on how Kiev can use Pentagon-provided weapons. The US president reportedly allowed the government of Vladimir Zelensky to strike Russia’s Kursk Region with ATACMS ballistic missiles. The ‘victory plan’ that the Ukrainian leader submitted to the US government in September requires the unrestricted use of Western weapons. Peskov said that Moscow’s position on the issue was formulated clearly by President Vladimir Putin earlier this year, who has said that attacks along the lines requested by Zelensky would be impossible without the direct contribution of intelligence and military expertise. If conducted, such strikes would mean that “NATO nations are at war with Russia,” he warned. When asked whether President-elect Donald Trump would reverse the decision when he takes office in January, Peskov declined to comment directly. He said instead that if media reports are confirmed, “that would certainly be a qualitatively new spiral of escalation of tensions and a qualitatively new situation in terms of US involvement in this conflict.”
Read more Trump claimed on his campaign trail that he could end the Ukraine crisis in 24 hours, if elected. The president-elect’s supporters have accused Biden of undermining his future policies by escalating the conflict. Voters gave Trump a mandate to disengage from foreign wars, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has argued. Neither Kiev nor Washington have confirmed the reports. Zelensky mused in a daily video post on Sunday that “strikes are not made with words” adding that “such things are not announced. The missiles will speak for themselves.” The Zelensky government has objected to Western diplomatic engagements with Russia, which took place after Trump’s victory. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz broke a two-year pause last week by calling the Russian president on the phone. The Ukrainian military, meanwhile, has launched several attacks with its long-range kamikaze drones against Moscow in the past two weeks. READ MORE: Putin hopes NATO heard warning on long-range strikes Zelensky launched an incursion into Kursk Region in August, claiming that seizing Russian land will give his government a bargaining chip at future peace talks. Kiev has lost approximately 33,250 troops and thousands of heavy weapons in the endeavor so far, according to Russian Defense Ministry estimates.
