Russia warns U.S. to avoid escalating Ukraine war by giving OK to long-range missiles | CBC News

The Kremlin said on Monday that any U.S. decision to allow Ukraine to fire American missiles deep into Russia would mean it was directly involved in the conflict.

When asked about weekend reports by the New York Times and Reuters that Biden’s administration had made the decision on long-range strikes, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov noted that the reports were not based on any official statement.

“If such a decision was indeed formulated and brought to the Kyiv regime, then this is a qualitatively new round of tension and a qualitatively new situation from the point of view of U.S. involvement in this conflict,” Peskov said.

President Vladimir Putin made Russia’s position absolutely clear when speaking in St. Petersburg in September, Peskov said. Putin said on Sept. 12 that Western approval for such a step would mean “the direct involvement of NATO countries, the United States and European countries in the war in Ukraine” because NATO military infrastructure and personnel would have to be involved in the targeting and firing of the missiles.

“It is obvious that the outgoing administration in Washington intends to take steps to continue adding fuel to the fire and continue to provoke tension around this conflict,” Peskov said.

Reuters reported the Biden administration’s decision on Sunday, citing two U.S. officials and a source familiar with the decision. The New York Times also reported the decision.

Sources quoted in both reports presented the move as partly in response to the reported arrival of North Korean soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region to help repel a Ukrainian incursion.

‘Missiles will speak for themselves’

Ukraine plans to conduct its first long-range attacks in the coming days, the sources said, without revealing details due to operational security concerns.

The move follows months of pleas by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to allow Ukraine’s military to use U.S. weapons to hit Russian military targets far from its border.

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Some Ukrainians are expressing uneasiness that Donald Trump’s U.S. election win could mean an end to the country’s support against Russia. Trump has publicly criticized sending Ukraine billions in military aid, and has said he could make a deal to ‘end the war in a day.’

“Today, many in the media are saying that we have received permission to take appropriate actions,” Zelenskyy said in a Sunday evening address.

“But strikes are not made with words. Such things are not announced. The missiles will speak for themselves.”

The White House and the U.S. State Department declined to comment. The Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry and president’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Ukraine’s first deep strikes are likely to be carried out using ATACMS rockets, which have a range of up to 306 kilometres, according to the sources.

While some U.S. officials have expressed skepticism that allowing long-range strikes will change the war’s overall trajectory, the decision could help Ukraine at a moment when Russian forces are making gains and possibly put Kyiv in a better negotiating position when and if ceasefire talks happen.

Trump an X-factor

It is not clear if president-elect Donald Trump will reverse Biden’s decision when he takes office on Jan. 20. Trump has long criticized the scale of U.S. financial and military aid to Ukraine and has vowed to end the war quickly, without explaining how.

A Trump spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But one of his closest foreign policy advisers, Richard Grenell, criticized the decision.

“Escalating the wars before he leaves office,” Grenell said, in an X post responding to the news.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned Western countries against supplying Ukraine with long-range missiles, saying NATO risks ‘war’ if they cross this red line. Andrew Rasiulis, a fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, joins Canada Tonight to break down Putin’s warning.

Some congressional Republicans had urged Biden to loosen the rules on how Ukraine can use U.S.-provided weapons.

Since Trump’s Nov. 5 election victory, senior Biden administration officials have repeatedly said they would use the remaining time to ensure Ukraine can fight effectively next year or negotiate peace with Russia from a “position of strength.”

‘Way too late’

The U.S. believes 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 to engage in combat operations.

Ukraine’s seizure of a piece of the Kursk region this year marked the first time U.S. weapons had been used on internationally recognized sovereign Russian soil since the war erupted in early 2022.

But stretched by personnel shortages, Ukrainian forces have lost some of the ground they captured in an August incursion into Kursk.

“Removing targeting restrictions will allow the Ukrainians to stop fighting with one hand tied behind their back,” Alex Plitsas, senior non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council, said.

“However, like everything else, I believe history will say the decision came way too late. Just like the ATACMS, HIMARS, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, Abrams Tanks and F-16. They were all needed much sooner,” he said.

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Russia on Sunday launched a large-scale drone and missile attack on Ukraine that targeted energy infrastructure and killed civilians. The attack came as fears mount about Moscow’s intentions to devastate Ukraine’s power generation capacity as winter approaches.

Kyiv’s other allies have been supplying weapons but with restrictions on how and when they can be used inside Russia, out of concern such strikes could prompt retaliation that draws NATO countries into the war or provokes a nuclear conflict.