Biden clears Ukraine for long-range missile strikes inside Russia

 

When US Army conducted live fire tests of the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico on Dece 14, 2021. [AFP]

US President Joe Biden has cleared Kyiv to use long-range American missiles against military targets inside Russia, a US official told AFP on Sunday, hours after Russia targeted Ukraine's power grid in a deadly barrage.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, was confirming reports from The New York Times and The Washington Post that the major policy shift -- long demanded by Ukraine -- was in response to North Korea deploying troops to help Moscow's war effort.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has long pushed for authorisation from Washington to use the powerful Army Tactical Missile System, known by its initials ATACMS, to hit targets inside Russia.

Poland was among the first to welcome the development.

"With the entry into the war of North Korean troops and (Sunday's) massive attack of Russian missiles, President Biden responded in a language that (Russian President) V. Putin understands," Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski posted on X.

"The victim of aggression has the right to defend himself," he added.

Zelensky's response, in his evening address Sunday, was more muted, referring to the military's "long-range capability" as one of the main points of Ukraine's victory plan.

"Today, there are many media reports that we have received permission to take appropriate actions," he said.

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

Power cuts

News of Biden's decision came hours after Ukraine announced nationwide emergency power restrictions from Monday after Russia's massive attack, which killed 11 civilians and further damaged the country's already fragile energy grid.

Another 10 people were killed, including two children, in another strike Sunday evening in the northeast town of Sumy.

State power company Ukrenergo announced the power cuts on Sunday, with Ukraine's much-feared winter approaching.

Russia's latest barrage brought swift international condemnation.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denounced the attack, which his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement had targeted "energy and critical civilian infrastructure".

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen described the attack on the power grid as "horrible" in comments to Brazil's Globo News.

"We will stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes," she added. "Ukraine can count on us."

Winter fears

Zelensky said Moscow launched 120 missiles and almost 100 drones, targeting Kyiv as well as southern, central and far-western corners of the country.

The attack, which officials said was one of Russia's largest, came as Moscow's assault neared its 1,000th day, which will be marked at the United Nations on Monday, attended by Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga.

Civilians were killed in the Mykolaiv, Lviv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa regions.

Biden's announcement -- and the latest devastation -- came at a time when Moscow has been steadily advancing in Ukraine's east. The imminent return of Donald Trump to the White House has raised fears over the future of US support for Kyiv.

Many fear a third winter of war will be the toughest yet. Previous Russian attacks have already destroyed half of Ukraine's energy production capacity, Zelensky has warned.

'Peace through strength'

Sunday's barrage came two days after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time in almost two years, urging the Kremlin chief to end Moscow's devastating offensive.

Ukraine was quick to criticise Berlin's initiative as an "attempt at appeasement". On Sunday, it said the latest attack was the Kremlin's real answer.

"This is war criminal Putin's true response to all those who called and visited him recently," Sybiga said.

"We need peace through strength, not appeasement."

Scholz on Sunday defended the call, insisting that Berlin's backing for Kyiv was unwavering.

"Ukraine can count on us," he said before flying to a G20 meeting in Brazil, adding that "No decision will be taken behind Ukraine's back."

But Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk joined the backlash on Sunday.

"No one will stop Putin with phone calls. The attack last night, one of the biggest in this war, has proved that telephone diplomacy cannot replace real support from the whole West for Ukraine," Tusk wrote on X.

And French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking from the Mercosur summit in Argentina, said Putin "does not want peace" in Ukraine and "is not ready to negotiate" an end to the war.

"It's a matter for Chancellor Scholz who he speaks to," said British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. "I have no plans to speak to Putin."

He added that the deployment of North Korean troops alongside Russian forces showed Moscow's "desperation", but also had "serious implications for European security".

Civilian deaths across Ukraine

Moscow said it had hit all its targets, saying it had aimed for an "essential energy infrastructure supporting the Ukrainian military-industrial complex".

But civilian deaths were reported across the country from the strikes overnight Saturday to Sunday.

Russia said Ukrainian drone attacks had killed a man in its border Belgorod region and a woman -- named as local journalist Yulia Kuznetsova -- in the border Kursk region.

Kursk leader Alexei Smirnov said she had been reporting on the "situation in the region", where a Ukrainian incursion has displaced thousands of people.

The West and Ukraine says thousands of North Korean soldiers are in Russia, with some in the Kursk region, to reinforce Moscow's forces.