Biden’s Ukraine Missile Decision Angers Trump Allies

President Joe Biden’s apparent green light for Ukraine to strike Russia with long-range U.S.-made missiles has caused consternation among some of Donald Trump’s allies.

Trump himself has not commented, but he won the election after promising to end the war – and many of those close to him have condemned the move, calling it a dangerous escalation.

Biden has committed tens of billions of dollars to kyiv’s war effort, and over the weekend he reportedly abandoned a long-standing red line over Ukraine’s use of U.S. weapons to launch attacks in depth in Russia.

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 formally confirmed and it may never be.

When asked how typical it would be for a presidential administration to make such a major policy decision in its final months, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Biden had been ” elected for a term of four years, and not for a term of three years and 10 years.” month.”

“We will use every day of our term to pursue policy interests that we believe are in the best interests of the American people,” he said. “If the new administration wishes to take a different view, it is of course their right to do so.”

“There is one president at a time,” he added. “When the next president takes office, he will be able to make his own decisions.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said no such announcement was planned: “the missiles will speak for themselves.”

Trump won on November 5 and is expected to return to the White House for a second term starting January 20 next year.

Trump campaigned on a promise to end U.S. involvement in wars and use taxpayer dollars to improve the lives of Americans.

He said he would end the Russian-Ukrainian war within 24 hours, without specifying how.

One thing is certain, however: Trump has always considered himself a dealmaker and will not want Biden to take such credit.

His son, Donald Trump Jr, was among the first Republicans to react.

“The military-industrial complex seems to want to make sure they start World War III before my father has a chance to create peace and save lives,” he said.

Another staunch Trump supporter, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, also condemned Biden.

“The American people gave a mandate on November 5th against these latest US decisions and do NOT want to finance or fight foreign wars. We want to solve our own problems,” she wrote on X.

Not all of Trump’s allies, including some who advised him on national security issues during his first term, share that view — although they are critical of the Biden administration’s approach.

James Gilmore, who served as Trump’s ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, told the BBC that the main problem with Biden’s decision to provide this new capability to Ukraine is that it came so late in the war.

“My criticism of Biden is the same as every other conservative and Trump supporter — that the Biden administration has moved slowly,” he said.

Gilmore said he did not know what the president-elect would choose to do regarding Ukraine once he takes office. “I don’t think he’s a man who usually walks away,” he said.

Polls suggest large numbers of Republicans want US support for Ukraine to end – 62% of respondents said in a Pew Research poll that the United States had no responsibility for supporting the country. against Russia.

Senator JD Vance, who will be Trump’s vice president, has regularly opposed the supply of weapons to Ukraine. He argued that the United States does not have the manufacturing capacity to continue supplying weapons such as the missile systems that kyiv will use to strike Russia.

Gilmore, however, said the United States was capable of replacing and modernizing its weapons systems through this process, but he added that the United States’ European allies should play a greater role.

“President Trump is absolutely right on this point: the alliance is stronger when Western European countries step up,” he said. “The United States cannot continue to act alone. The taxpayer will not allow it, the next administration will not allow it, and neither will I.”

Since launching the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Russian president has attacked the US-led NATO alliance – and has outlined every commitment of military support from Western allies to the Ukraine as direct involvement and warned of reprisals.

His spokesperson said Monday that the United States was “adding fuel to the fire.”

Putin has sometimes raised the possibility of also using nuclear weapons.

Few believe this could happen because, under the doctrine of mutual destruction established during the Cold War, when nuclear arsenals were built, Putin knows that their use would bring untold suffering to all, including the Russians.

But the Russian leader is fully aware of the scale of the threat posed by long-range missiles supplied by the West.

The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank, published a map of 225 Russian military installations within range of ATACMS.

Former US envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker said Biden’s decision would allow Ukraine “to attack airfields, ammunition depots and fuel supplies, logistics that Russia has, which are currently in a sanctuary zone in Russia.

Biden’s decision will prompt Russia to be more cautious, Volker told the BBC.

Dismissing Putin’s threats, he said the Russian leader “should have anticipated that Ukraine would make efforts to retaliate.”

Ukraine has had ATACMS missiles as well as British and French Storm Shadow missiles of similar range for some time, although the numbers are not known. But their use in Russia is not permitted.

France and the United Kingdom should follow the example of the United States and issue the same authorization to Ukraine. So far, they have not made any comments.

White House officials are emphasizing to US media that Biden’s change of heart is a response to Russia’s deployment of North Korean troops – a signal to Pyongyang not to send any more.

Gilmore, Trump’s ambassador to the OSCE, told the BBC that he believed it was “Putin who escalated the war” by deploying North Korean troops, and that the United States could not “just stand aside and let this dictator go ahead and conquer Ukraine.”

“I don’t like it and I take it all very seriously, but the decision is not ours. The decision is imposed on us by Putin, by the dictator,” he said.

The move also follows a series of Russian attacks against Ukraine in recent days.

On Monday, a strike on Odessa killed 10 people, including seven police officers, and injured 47 others.