Photo: Sgt. 1st Class Andrew Dickson US Army Archives Associated Press US President Joe Biden has authorized Ukraine to strike Russian territory with American-made long-range ATACMS missiles.
Léon Bruneau – Agence France-Presse in Washington
Published yesterday at 7:21
- Europe
“Escalation”, threat of a “third world war”: Donald Trump's inner circle strongly denounced on Monday Joe Biden's decision to authorize Ukraine to strike Russian territory with American-made long-range missiles.
Democratic President Joe Biden has indeed acceded to a long-standing request from kyiv, a bold turnaround in the final weeks of his term.
This decision, which the Biden administration has refrained from publicly confirming, and the outgoing president's promise to accelerate military aid to Ukraine, come in the midst of a transition of power in the United States and as Donald Trump and his allies criticize American aid to kyiv.
It comes especially as the word negotiation is increasingly being whispered to try to end the conflict, provoked by the Russian invasion in February 2022.
kyiv fears being forced into negotiations unfavorable to Ukraine, against a backdrop of Moscow's advances on the ground.
Echoing the Kremlin, which promised an “appropriate” response in the event of these ATACMS missiles being fired against Russia, Donald Trump's entourage accused Joe Biden of risking an escalation “to political ends.”
At his daily briefing, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Russia was solely responsible for a “major escalation” by agreeing to the deployment of thousands of North Korean troops on its soil, and that there was “only one president at a time.”
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000But for Republicans close to Donald Trump, this is putting a spoke in the wheels of the next administration.
“New war”
“This is a new step in the escalation and no one knows where it will lead us,” Florida congressman Mike Waltz, Donald Trump’s next national security adviser, a key position, denounced on Fox.
“No one anticipated that Joe Biden would be responsible for the escalation of the war in Ukraine during the transition period. It’s like he’s starting a whole new war,” Richard Grenell, former acting director of National Intelligence during Trump’s first term (2017-2021), wrote on X.
“Everything has changed now […] And it’s all for politics,” he charged.
M. Grenell has not yet been given a position, but his name had been circulating to oversee American diplomacy, before Donald Trump set his sights on Senator Marco Rubio.
Not to be outdone, the son of the former president, Donald Trump Jr., also denounced on X, “the military-industrial complex (which) seems to want to ensure that World War III is triggered before my father has the opportunity to establish peace and save lives.”
Donald Trump has not responded publicly, but his campaign team has indicated that he is “the only one who can bring both sides to negotiate peace and work to end the war and the killing,” according to his spokesperson Steven Cheung.
Read also
- 1000 days of war in Ukraine
- After 1000 days of invasion, kyiv vows to “never” submit to Russia
- Russia warns of escalation if Ukraine uses US missiles
- Massive Russian attacks in Ukraine, Washington gives green light for long-range missiles
Speed race
On the thousandth day of the war on Tuesday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga will visit the US Congress in Washington on Tuesday to seek support.
Because the intentions of the incoming Trump administration are anything but clear.
The former president, who will return to the White House on January 20, has promised to end the war in “24 hours” and has questioned the tens of billions of dollars Washington has spent on Ukraine — more than $60 billion in military aid since the Russian invasion.
“How do we bring both sides to the negotiating table to end this war?? What is the framework for an agreement and who sits at the table?? These are the questions that President Trump and I are going to work,” Waltz said.
Just after his election on November 5 against Vice President Kamala Harris, Mr. Trump spoke with President Zelensky, who reported a “constructive interaction.”
In the meantime, President Biden is seeking to outmaneuver the incoming president and lay down markers that the next administration will have difficulty undoing, with the aim of strengthening kyiv’s position in the event of negotiations.