Now Ukraine can give Putin a massive headache at home

Joe Biden has finally relented in allowing Ukraine to use USsupplied long-range missiles to strike inside Russia - and it would be a surprise if the UK did not follow suit.

- CHRIS STEVENSON

For months, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has been pleading with his US counterpart and other Western leaders to help relieve the pressure his troops are facing on the front line, as well as trying to slow the relentless aerial bombardment of Ukrainian cities that Russia is launching missiles against. As Russia’s invasion ticks into its 1,000th day, Biden has given the green light.

Given the relatively limited supplies that Ukraine will have of both the US Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) ballistic missiles and the UK Storm Shadow missiles, this will not be a war-winning development for Kyiv, but that should not diminish what a policy shift this is for the White House. Although the symbolic significance may end up outweighing what happens on the battlefield.

According to US officials, the first time the American weapons will be used inside Russia will likely be against Russian and North Korean troops seeking to push back Ukrainian troops from the Russian border region of Kursk – where Kyiv’s forces launched a daring assault in August that claimed a swathe of territory.

Kyiv has warned of tens of thousands of Russian troops, bolstered by thousands of North Korean soldiers as part of growing cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang that also includes masses of artillery shells being sent to Russia.

That will be the short-term military gain, with hope that longrange strikes will help slow supplies to those troops and give Ukraine a chance of holding onto the territory as long as they can, while ensuring that Russia can’t launch its own assaults from that area of the border.