ReutersPresident Joe Biden’s apparent green light for Ukraine to attack Russia with long-range missiles made in the United States has upset some of President Donald Trump’s allies.
Trump himself has not commented, but several people close to him have condemned the move as a dangerous escalation, since he won the election by promising to end the war.
Biden has poured tens of billions of dollars into Kiev’s war effort and over the weekend announced that Ukraine had abandoned a longstanding red line to use American weapons to launch attacks deep into Russia. It is being
Donald Trump Jr. tweeted that the president was trying to “start World War III” before his father took office.
Biden’s decision has not been officially confirmed and may never be.
Asked how typical it is for presidential administrations to make such important policy decisions in their final months, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that Biden was a “three-year, 10-year… “He was elected for a four-year term, not a term.” A few months. ”
“We will spend every day of our term pursuing policy interests that we believe are in the best interests of the American people,” he said. “If the next government wants to take a different view, that’s certainly their right.”
“One president at a time,” he added. “Once the next president takes office, he will be able to make his own decisions.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said no such announcement was planned and “the missiles will tell everything.”
Trump camp is dissatisfied
Trump won an overwhelming victory on November 5th and is scheduled to return to the White House for a second term on January 20th next year.
Mr. Trump campaigned on a promise to end U.S. involvement in wars and instead use taxpayer funds to improve people’s lives.
He said he would end the Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours, but did not say how.
But one thing is certain: President Trump has always considered himself a dealmaker, and he doesn’t want Biden to claim such credit for himself.
His son, Donald Trump Jr., was one of the first Republicans to respond.
“The military-industrial complex seems to want to ensure that World War III breaks out before our fathers have a chance to make peace and save lives,” he said.
Another vocal Trump supporter, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, also criticized Biden.
“The American people gave a mandate on November 5th to oppose these very last American decisions. We do not want to fund or fight foreign wars. “I want to solve the problem,” she wrote to X.
Although critical of the Biden administration’s approach, not all of President Trump’s allies shared this view.
James Gilmore, Trump’s former ambassador to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, told the BBC that the main problem with Biden’s decision to provide Ukraine with this new capability was that it would not be until late in the war. He said that he had come out.
“My criticism of Biden is the same as every other conservative and Trump supporter: The Biden administration has been slow to respond,” he said.
Gilmore said he doesn’t know what the next president will choose regarding Ukraine once he takes office. “I don’t think he’s the kind of guy who always walks away,” he said.
Getty ImagesPolls show that many Republicans want to see an end to U.S. aid to Ukraine, with 62% in a Pew Research poll saying the U.S. has no responsibility to help Ukraine against Russia.
Sen. J.D. Vance, President Trump’s vice president, has regularly opposed arms deliveries to Ukraine. He argued that the United States does not have the manufacturing capacity to continue supplying weapons such as the missile systems that Kiev uses to attack inside Russia.
But Gilmore said that while the United States has been able to backfill and update its weapons systems through this process, America’s European allies need to take a greater role.
“President Trump is absolutely right on this point. The alliance will become stronger if Western European countries join,” he said. “The United States cannot continue to act alone. The taxpayers won’t forgive it, the next administration won’t forgive it, and I won’t forgive it.”
President Putin is also silent.
Since launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Russian president has sharply criticized the U.S.-led NATO alliance, saying all promises of military aid to Ukraine by Western allies amount to direct involvement and threatening to retaliate. is warning.
His spokesman said on Monday that the United States was “pouring fuel on the fire.”
At times, Putin has also discussed the possibility of using nuclear weapons.
Under the principle of mutual destruction, established during the Cold War when nuclear forces were built up, President Putin knows that the use of nuclear weapons will cause untold suffering to everyone, including Russians, and therefore will not allow this to happen. Few people believe it.
But Russian leaders are likely well aware of the magnitude of the threat posed by long-range missiles supplied by the West.
The Institute for War Research, a think tank, published a map of 225 Russian military facilities within range of ATACMS.
Kurt Volker, a former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine, said Biden’s decision would allow Ukraine to attack “Russian-held airfields, ammunition depots, fuel supplies, and logistics, currently in Russia’s sanctuary zone.” “It will be.”
Mr Volcker told the BBC that Mr Biden’s decision would make Russia more cautious.
He dismissed Putin’s threats, saying the Russian leader “should have expected there to be a counterattack effort by Ukraine.”
Ukraine has been fielding ATACMS as well as British and French Stormshadow missiles of similar range for some time, but the number is unknown. However, its use within Russia is not permitted.
France and the UK are expected to follow the US lead and grant similar permission to Ukraine. So far, they have not commented.
White House officials have emphasized to US media that Biden’s change of heart was in response to Russia’s decision to send troops to North Korea, and that he was signaling to North Korea not to send any more troops.
President Trump’s OSCE ambassador, Gilmore, told the BBC that he believed it was President Putin who “escalated the war” by sending North Korean soldiers, adding that the United States “will sit back and let this dictator proceed with his conquest of Ukraine.” “I can’t do that,” he said.
“I don’t like it and I take everything very seriously, but this decision is not ours. The decision is imposed on us by President Putin, the dictator.”
The move also follows Russia’s barrage of attacks on Ukraine in recent days.
A strike in Odesa on Monday left 10 people dead, including seven police officers, and 47 injured.
