Will they remain satisfied in two months in Kyiv or will they become angry? Will Ukrainian politicians and generals continue to brag that their military can use American missiles against military targets on Russian territory, or will they hear unpleasant news from Washington? It will be seen after January 20, 2025, when Donald Trump moves into the White House. The new president of the USA will decide whether to leave in force the approval given by Joe Biden to the Ukrainians to deploy tactical ballistic missiles (ATACMS) in a limited area of the Russian Federation.
Photo: SITA/AP, Sgt. 1st Class Andrew Dickson
American ballistic missiles being loaded onto a military vehicle on which a salvo rocket launcher is placed. US President Joe Biden allowed the Ukrainians to use this type of missile on the limited territory of Russia.
Whoever noticed the reaction of Trump’s son, who is also named Donald, could conclude from his words that the Ukrainians will stop enjoying themselves. Let us recall that X wrote on the social network that this is basically a step towards the outbreak of the third world war before his father, already in the position of the head of the White House, will have the opportunity to achieve peace. “Among the five Trump children, Donald Trump Jr. is the most strongly connected to his father’s politics and is said to have significant influence in the selection of new members of the government,” noted the Economic Times server. His words could therefore be understood as a mirror of what the Republican winner of the presidential elections thinks. even taking into account the statement of Mike Waltz, whom Trump chose as his national security adviser, because according to him, this is only another step leading to the escalation of the war.
The newly elected president is silent for now. Before the election, he repeatedly criticized Biden’s decisions in connection with Russia’s war against Ukraine, but now he is silent. It cannot be ruled out that Trump learned from him about the upcoming approval of the use of ATACMS in Russia (specifically in the Kursk region, where the Ukrainians penetrated in August of this year) in advance of the four-eyes. They met at the White House on November 13 to talk about a smooth transfer of power, perhaps even talking about ballistic missiles; the information about the approval of the extended use of American missiles was heard four days later. “Biden’s move could also be understood as a way of strengthening Trump in the face of the head of the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin. Trump can argue that he wasn’t the one who authorized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to intervene in Russia with ATACMS, but if he wants him to reverse that decision, then Putin has to make some concessions,” American political scientist Mark Katz wrote in his analysis.
What do they think in Moscow? Commentators in the state-controlled media warn that Trump could reverse Biden’s decision. The influential Putin deputy Leonid Slutsky also hinted at it indirectly: “Trump will most likely lead a much less crazy policy in relation to Russia,” the chairman of the foreign parliamentary committee told the Rossiya-24 television station.
How do they see it in Kyiv? According to the RBK-Ukraine server, former diplomat and currently the director of the Center for Defense Strategies, Oleksandr Chara, believes that Trump is silent for the time being because he wants to create room for maneuver when he assumes the position of president. Political scientist Volodymyr Fesenko agrees with him: “He will become the head of the White House in two months. A lot can change until then. So why should he make any statements and take on any commitments now.”
Fesenko noted for RBK-Ukraine that Trump could use the aforementioned Biden’s approval in possible negotiations with Putin on ending the war: “He can propose to him to introduce a moratorium on strikes with American missiles in the event that Russia stops shelling the Ukrainian energy sector or completely stops missile attacks against Ukraine .”
Trump has a reputation as an unpredictable politician, so it is impossible to predict how he might proceed. He can go to extremes, so it cannot be ruled out that he may be accommodating to Putin, but on the other hand, if he did not see the Kremlin’s interest in ending the fighting, he might even harden the American attitude towards Russia.
Taking into account Trump’s unpredictability, it is possible that the Ukrainian military will use as many ballistic missiles from the US as possible in the next less than two months. The reason: for ATACMS to deploy munitions in large numbers relative to its stockpile against targets on Russian soil before Trump could possibly ban it on the first day of his arrival in the White House.
Source: spravy.pravda.sk
