US Nears Decision to Let Ukraine Hit Some Targets in Russia
(Bloomberg) -- The US is approaching a final decision to lift some restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Western-made weapons to strike limited military targets in Russia, according to people familiar with the matter.
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The discussions have been shaped by North Korea ramping up support for President Vladimir Putin’s army and a decision would also follow an increase in Russian missile and drone attacks on its neighbor, the people said. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.
If approved, the capability would likely be used first in the Kursk region of Russia, where Ukraine is fighting against North Korean troops as well as Moscow’s forces, the people said. Still, any permission, if granted, is unlikely to go as far as Ukraine has requested, one of the people said. They declined to provide operational details.
Spokespeople for the National Security Council declined to comment.
As the war in Ukraine heads into its third full winter, the US and its allies have grown extremely concerned about Pyongyang’s decision to deploy its forces in combat and assessments by some Group of 20 nations suggest North Korea could eventually send as many as 100,000 troops to Russia. The allies believe the deepening cooperation between Putin and Kim Jong Un could have consequences for the security balance in the Indo-Pacific region, Bloomberg has reported previously.
Discussions between the allies over missile strikes have intensified since Donald Trump won US elections earlier this month, another person said. Trump has said he will seek a quick deal between Ukraine and Russia to end the war, without specifying how.
Allowing Ukrainians to use those Western-made weapons — known as Army Tactical Missile Systems — would mark a serious escalation, but it’s unlikely to dramatically change the course of the conflict, according to Ruslan Pukhov, head of the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, a privately owned defense think tank.
This is due to the small number of ATACMS missiles in Ukraine, he said.
“This is a political step aimed at limiting options for President-elect Trump to end the war, because such an escalating step should obviously aggravate relations between the United States and the Russian Federation. Now the ball is on Putin’s side,” Pukhov added.