The Russian government is warning that U.S. authorization for Ukraine to fire long-range missiles deep into enemy territory will be “adding fuel to the fire” of deteriorating diplomacy surrounding the conflict.
News outlets from the United States reported Sunday that President Joe Biden gave the green light for Ukrainian forces to fire U.S.-provided Army Tactical Missile Systems to strike military targets hundreds of miles away from the front lines — a permission Ukrainian leaders have requested for months.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov addressed the reports in a Monday press conference, saying that the Russian government has not confirmed the authorization but considers the move in line with the U.S. posture on the conflict.
“It is obvious that the outgoing administration in Washington intends to take steps and they have been talking about this, to continue adding fuel to the fire and provoking further escalation of tensions around this conflict,” Peskov told the press in Moscow.
He added: “If such a decision has indeed been formulated and communicated to the Kyiv regime, it marks a significant escalation and a fundamentally new stage in terms of U.S. involvement in this conflict.”
Peskov pointed the media to previous comments made by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who he said has “extremely clearly and unambiguously” explained the risks of such authorization from Western powers.
“It would mean that NATO countries, the U.S., European countries, are at war with Russia,” Putin said in September, according to a translation from the Moscow Times. “If that’s the case, then taking into account the change of nature of the conflict, we will take the appropriate decisions based on the threats that we will face.”
Such threats have previously deterred U.S. authorization, but increased belligerence from North Korean mercenaries and a flurry of Russian strikes on civilian targets in recent weeks have forced the Biden administration to reflect on Ukraine’s ability to survive without the ability to respond in kind.
“We all have to work to end the conflicts and crises that are eroding progress to improve security around the world,” Biden said at the G20 summit in Brazil on Monday — his first comments on the conflict since green-lighting the missiles. “The United States strongly supports Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Everyone around this table, in my view, should as well.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in chorus with activists, strategists, and U.S. lawmakers, has continuously pleaded for permission to use long-range missiles to disrupt Russian military production and supply lines.
Zelensky’s response to Biden’s decision was subdued during a Sunday address, simply reminding that securing “long-range capabilities” is one of the “key elements” of his country’s proposed victory plan.
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“There’s been much said in the media today that we have received approval to take relative actions, but strikes are not carried out with words,” the Ukrainian president said. “These things are not announced. The missiles will speak for themselves.”
