Donald Trump Jr has accused President Joe Biden of trying to start WWIII before his father can take office after the US gave the green light for Ukraine to blast targets deep inside Russia with US-supplied long-range missiles.
The decision is a major US policy shift and comes as Biden is about to leave office and President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to limit American support for Ukraine and end the war as soon as possible.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky noted that the reports about Biden’s policy change had not been openly confirmed by the White House but said the ‘missiles will speak for themselves’.
The weapons are likely to be used in response to North Korea‘s decision to send thousands of troops to Russia in support of Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s invasion of Ukraine, according to sources.
Biden hopes that this response will ‘send a message’ to Kim Jong Un not to send any more, sources said.
The US allowing Zelensky‘s forces to use its supplied missiles for strikes deep into Russia has raised expectations for the UK to follow suit with its Storm Shadow missiles.
Keir Starmer has previously said that he would be in favour of giving the green light for the Storm Shadow missiles to be used.
Starmer’s French counterpart Emmanuel Macron echoed this sentiment, which might mean that France could also soon allow Ukraine to fire their supplied long-range missiles into Russia.
While some US 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.
US officials briefed the New York Times on Biden’s move in the wake of one of Russia’s biggest aerial bombardments of Ukraine in the war on Saturday night.
The country’s energy operator DTEK announced emergency power cuts at around 7am UK time on Sunday morning affecting the Kyiv, Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions following overnight drone strikes.
It said shortly thereafter thermal power plants had been struck by Putin‘s latest fusillade. The level of damage was not immediately clear.
Air defences were deployed overnight to intercept drones in Kyiv as residents were urged to take cover, while missiles bound for the west of the stricken country prompted NATO to send out its warplanes to assist.
