By Mike Stone, Humeyra Pamuk and Matt Spetalnick
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden dropped his opposition to Ukraine firing U.S. missiles at targets deep inside Russia in response to North Korea’s entry to the war, a shift in U.S. policy that took on added urgency following Donald Trump’s Nov. 5 election win, sources familiar with the matter said.
Biden for months resisted pleas from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to ease limits on the use of U.S.-supplied ATACMs missiles, which can reach far into Russian territory, wary of potentially drawing NATO into a conflict with a nuclear-armed power.
But Moscow’s decision to deploy North Korean soldiers to Russia’s Kursk region represented a major escalation that demanded a response, a senior U.S. official and two other sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The election of Trump – who is deeply skeptical of U.S. support for Ukraine – added pressure on the administration to loosen the rules on the use of the weapons and take other steps to bolster Ukraine as it suffers repeated setbacks on the battlefield, said two other sources familiar with the matter.
The decision could help to “Trump-proof” parts of Biden’s Ukraine agenda by strengthening Ukraine’s position in case they lose U.S. support, one of the sources said.
Trump has repeatedly criticized U.S. military aid to Ukraine, raising fears that he might suspend weapons supplies.
The relaxation of the restrictions on U.S. weapons may have come too late to alter the course of the conflict but could help Ukraine defend the foothold it has in Kursk.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A State Department spokesperson declined to say whether Biden had authorized the longer-range strikes but said Russia was escalating the conflict by deploying North Korean troops.
Moscow has vowed to respond to what it sees as an escalation by the West. A U.S. official said on Thursday that Russia may have fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile during an attack on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, in a likely warning to NATO.
STRENGTHENING KYIV’S HAND
The relaxation of U.S. conditions was conveyed to Ukraine during a Nov. 12 call between Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and Ukrainian Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov, said a source familiar with the discussions.
A day later, Secretary of State Antony Blinken informed NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and European officials of the decision as well as his…
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