At long last, the Biden administration has decided to permit Ukraine to use longer-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) against military targets in Russia, according to reports. This is a plus, but it comes unnecessarily late, undermining its effectiveness. Months ago, Moscow moved many of its logistical centers and much of its strategic airpower out of the range of the ATACMS. Had the White House allowed the use of these weapons against targets in Russia from the moment Ukraine received them, then the damage to Russia’s military would have been much greater.
Despite this, the decision is still welcome. For starters, these missiles will prove handy responding to Moscow’s latest escalation—the introduction of up to ten thousand North Korean troops into the war. In addition to Moscow’s months-long push to capture the eastern Ukrainian logistics hub of Pokrovsk, there is another, more intense counteroffensive underway to take back the still-substantial lands in Russia’s Kursk Oblast that were captured by Ukrainian forces in their August offensive. This counteroffensive involves approximately fifty thousand Russian and North Korean troops.
Voice of Ukraine 