Twelve days after the US presidential election, Joe Biden faces the hourglass reality. The Democrat has only a few weeks left to consolidate the achievements of his mandate, before Donald Trump returns to the White House. While the latter’s intentions remain unclear regarding the war in Ukraine, which he promised to resolve in record time, Joe Biden has finally given in to a request made by kyiv for months, learned from an official source on Sunday, November. From now on, Washington authorizes, on a case-by-case basis, the use by the Ukrainian army of long-range missiles to attack Russia in depth, specifically the Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), which can hit a target at almost 300 kilometers away. kilometers away.
The objective here is to repel Moscow’s counterattack – with nearly 50,000 men, including 10,000 North Koreans – in the Russian region of Kursk, conquered by kyiv in August. This key decision, which comes during a weekend of massive Russian attacks in Ukraine, is causing immense resentment among supporters of the invaded country due to its delay. It will not allow the balance of power to be reversed, but it offers kyiv a long-awaited military option. He gains no potential victory, but frees a hand tied behind his back. The priority is to preserve strategic assets – such as a piece of Russian territory – before Donald Trump takes power, who intends to promote negotiations.
Until now, the US refusal to allow deep strikes was explained by fear of escalation by Russia, as Moscow had constantly brandished the threat of a nuclear weapon. The escalation, however, occurred in a different way, judging by the massive presence of North Korean soldiers alongside the Russian army. Rarely have we seen a US administration so consistently refuse on a major international security issue. As with other military equipment, such as tanks or fighter jets, it relented after having delayed this moment for too long, to the detriment of Ukraine.
The Biden administration’s strategy questioned
This systemic US delay in addressing needs and emergencies in Ukraine, despite massive military and financial aid since 2022, has made other actors, such as Iran, which has provided hundreds of drones to Russia, bolder. “The Biden administration did the right thing by supporting Ukraine when it was invadedsays Andrew Michta, an expert at the Atlantic Council think tank on the X network, but then fell into the trap of believing that wars can be “managed” rather than fought. From then on, Ukraine never benefited from the means to break the Russian army and render it unable to fight. »
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