Until now, Ukraine was only allowed to use Western ballistic missiles on its own territory. However, this is changing with the decision of US President Joe Biden.
Big changes are expected in the ongoing Russian aggression in Ukraine, as in an unexpected move, the United States decided to remove the shackles from the defense potential of Ukraine by the decision of the outgoing President Joe Biden. Newly they can ATACMS ballistic missiles can also be used against Russian territory by mutual agreement between the United States and Ukraine.
So far, Western-supplied ballistic missiles capable of hitting Russian territory have been used only within the territory of Ukraine and territories occupied by Russia. The Ukrainians are now offered the opportunity to transfer the war to the territory of the enemy, when they can hit military bases and key points even across the border, where it was de facto impossible to attack with Western missile technology.
ATACMS missiles are American-made and have a range of 300 kilometers. At the same time, the hands of other countries were also apparently freed up. Great Britain supplied Ukraine with Storm Shadow missiles (or SCALP, these are two names of the same product developed in British-French cooperation), which, according to unconfirmed reports from the Guardian, could have been deployed against the territory of Russia as early as September.
However, the only use of these missiles, which have a range of 550 kilometers and are launched from aircraft, appears to have been against targets in Crimea, which de jure is still Ukrainian territory. According to some reports, however, Ukraine is saving Shadow Strike for strikes against air bases, while ATACMS should target positions of Russian and North Korean troops and are launched from the ground. Likewise, France is likely to increase the supply of SCALP systems.
Reactions to these strategic changes were positive both from Ukraine and Poland, where Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski praised the cook. We can only guess at the reason for the change in the United States’ approach, but it is probably a combination of several factors. The first is the arrival of 10,000 North Korean troops to reinforce Russian positions, which in itself is another provocative step that has enabled reactive diplomatic countermeasures to be taken.
At the same time, this is Biden’s last two months in office, and he now has a free hand. Whether this agreement will be respected by the cabinet of Donald Trump, the newly elected president, we can only speculate, however, Trump’s policy so far and especially the new team that surrounds him fuel speculations that the US will force Ukraine to give up territory in exchange for peace and if no, they will cut off the supply of ammunition and weapons. Within the proposed cabinet, which still needs to be approved, there are not many people who support Ukraine, and the biggest hawk, Marco Rubio, is targeting China in particular.
Russia’s reactions are of course outraged. For the time being, the most radical voices are being heard from the parliament and the senate, where, for example, Vladimir Jabarov said that this is a step towards the third world war. Vladimir Putin has not yet made a public statement.
Source: zpravy.tiscali.cz
