Ukraine has carried out its first strike against Russia with U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles, according to Ukrainian news agency RBC-Ukraine. The missiles, which have a range of 300 kilometres, struck a munitions storage facility near the city of Karachev in western Russia. The attack was confirmed by Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council.
The use of the missiles marks a new stage in the war, one that Russia has called a clear escalation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, November 19th signed a revised nuclear doctrine, declaring that a conventional attack on Russia by any nation that is supported by a nuclear power will be considered a joint attack on his country.
As we previously reported, U.S. President Joe Biden recently gave Ukraine the approval to fire American long-range missiles deep within Russian territory.
Moscow has made it clear that it views such a move as an escalation of the war, and that it would mean the participation of Western nations in the conflict, to which Russia would react accordingly.
As Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Monday:
Kyiv’s use of long-range missiles to attack our territory would mean the direct participation of the United States and its satellites, as well as a radical change in the very essence and nature of the conflict.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision has drawn a mixed reaction from Europe’s leaders. While the more hawkish politicians seem to be preparing their citizens for war, the pro-peace camp is condemning the U.S. administration for escalating the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Biden’s decision “was a totally good one,” and that Russia was the “only power making an escalation in this conflict today.” The president said the approval for Kyiv to fire U.S. missiles into Russia was necessary because Moscow’s deployment of North Korean soldiers was “a grave change in the conflict which shouldn’t be underestimated.”
On Tuesday, November 19th, the 1000th day since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, Macron posted a message on his X social media account, stressing that “we have stood resolutely alongside Ukraine and its people, to ensure the triumph of freedom, peace, and justice,” and that France’s support “will not waver.”
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot declared that his country was open to the idea of allowing Ukraine to strike military targets deep inside Russia using missiles provided by Paris. The United Kingdom is also expected to supply missiles for use by Ukraine on targets inside Russia, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer saying that the UK needs to “double down” on its support for Kyiv.
France and Britain have provided Ukraine with their long-range Storm Shadow and SCALP missiles, but have held back from authorising their use inside Russia without American approval for the use of ATACMS missiles.
The only other European military power holding back so far is Germany, whose chancellor Olaf Scholz said his government would not supply Ukraine with long-range Taurus missiles. He stressed that it was important to support Ukraine’s defence against Russia while still acting “prudently.”
Scholz was recently berated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, November 15th. Zelensky warned that “it is critical to weaken Putin and Russia’s isolation,” but that Scholz had opened a “Pandora’s Box” and his call with the Russian president could prompt other European leaders to follow suit. In a tweet on Monday, Scholz said that it “is right to speak and tell Putin: he must end this war.”
The phone call between Scholz and Putin signals a slight shift in Europe’s attitude to the war, with pro-peace and pro-dialogue voices getting louder. The fighting has been going on for almost three years, and the frontlines of the battlefield have hardly moved in the past two years.
There is a growing chorus of parties and politicians on both sides of the Atlantic who have grown frustrated with funding Ukraine, with no end to the war in sight. The U.S. president-elect, Donald Trump, who is set to enter the White House in January, wants to end the war as soon as possible, as he seeks to pursue a more non-interventionist foreign policy. His allies have decried outgoing president Joe Biden’s decision to allow the firing of U.S. missiles into Russia as an attempt to undermine Trump’s plans for peace.
This sentiment was shared by Hungarian and Slovakian politicians, whose governments have been critical of the European Union policy of supporting Ukraine militarily and imposing sanctions on Russia. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said the “war-supporting elite” on both sides of the Atlantic is escalating efforts to expand the Ukraine conflict into a global war.
Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico said, “this is an unprecedented escalation of tensions.” He added that the decision “thwarts any hope of starting any peace negotiations and ending the mutual killing of Slavs in Ukraine.”
At the same time, the staunch supporters of Ukraine welcomed the use of missiles to strike targets deep within Russian territory.
Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis believes that the EU strategy on Ukraine should not be based on diplomacy. “We need a strategy that would come from strength. […] And when I’m talking strength, I’m talking weapons, I’m talking about the real removal of all restrictions,” he said.
Meanwhile, two Scandinavian countries—Sweden and Finland—have begun preparing their citizens for an all-out war. Stockholm on Monday published its latest version of In Case of Crisis or War, a pamphlet instructing civilians to be ready with a stockpile of food and emergency supplies. The Helsinki government also launched a website on Monday with advice on how to prepare for a crisis.
