President Biden’s permission for Ukraine to use American-made missiles for strikes on Russia has triggered a global conflict, a close ally of Vladimir Putin has claimed.
On Sunday, Biden fulfilled a longstanding Ukrainian request by authorizing the country’s use of U.S.-supplied Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) for long-range strikes inside Russian territory, officials confirmed to Reuters, AP and several other news agencies.
Ukraine has launched an ATACMS strike, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry, prompting Moscowto warn of a stark escalation in the conflict.
“The use of alliance missiles in this way can now be qualified as an attack by the bloc’s countries on Russia,” Dmitry Medvedev posted to Telegram on Tuesday.
“In this case, the right arises to launch a retaliatory strike with weapons of mass destruction against Kyiv and the main NATO facilities, wherever they are. And this is already WWIII.”
Medevdev, who currently serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, also claimed that the decision taken by Biden was a “deliberate” effort to create “such an escalation of the conflict that Trump’s team will have to deal with.”
Newsweek has contacted the Biden White House for a response to Medvedev’s statement.
Ekaterina Shtukina/Sputnik via AP
Medvedev, who has held the position of both president and prime minister of the country, said that the “unconfirmed decision” by Biden would “not be able to make a significant contribution to the enemy’s military actions.”
However, he said that the strikes would nevertheless have an escalatory impact, thanks to Russia’s recent decision to alter its guidelines on the use of nuclear weapons.
On Tuesday, Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced that Putin had ratified an alteration in Russia’s nuclear policy, first announced by the leader in late September. These broader criteria would classify any largescale attack on Russian territory as meriting a nuclear response, while aggression from any state with the assistance of another would be treated as a joint attack on the Russian Federation.
Other officials within Russia have issued similar warnings, with Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova on Tuesday stating that Kyiv’s use of American missiles for long-range strikes would constitute “the direct participation of the United States and its satellites in military operations against Russia, as well as a radical change in the essence and nature of the conflict.”
“Russia’s response will then be adequate and tangible,” she added.
Newsweek has contacted the Russian Ministry of Foreign Ministry for further comment on the decision by President Biden.
On Tuesday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said that Ukraine had struck a facility in the Bryansk region with “American-made ATACMS operational-tactical missiles.” While nearly all of the missiles were reportedly intercepted, the ministry said that fragments of one fell inside a military facility, causing a fire which was eventually extinguished.
Speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Brazil, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the attack proved America’s intention to “escalate” the conflict, Kyiv Post reported, and promised to “react accordingly.”
Russia may already be preparing such a response, with the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv issuing a warning to its employees over a “a potential significant air attack on November 20.”
“The U.S. Embassy recommends U.S. citizens be prepared to immediately shelter in the event an air alert is announced,” the embassy said in its announcement.
Do you have a story we should be covering? Do you have any questions about this article? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com.
