WASHINGTON, Nov 17 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden’s administration will allow Ukraine to use U.S.-provided weapons to strike deep into Russian territory, three sources familiar with the matter said, in a significant change to Washington’s policy in the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

Ukraine plans to conduct its first long-range attacks in the coming days, the sources said, without revealing details due to operational security concerns.

The move by the United States two months before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20 follows months of requests by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to allow Ukraine’s military to use U.S. weapons to hit Russian military targets far from its border.

The change follows Russia’s deployment of North Korean ground troops to supplement its own forces, a development that has caused alarm in Washington and Kyiv.

The first deep strikes are likely to be carried out using ATACMS rockets, which have a range of up to 190 miles (306 km), according to the sources.

  • ouch@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    Bad news mate. WW3 already started a while ago. The world is essentially in a proxy war against Russia.

    • DictatrshipOfTheseus@lemmy.ml
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      4 days ago

      If you include the global south (which obviously you should), most of the world sides with Russia. I’d agree with you that unless things really take a turn towards deescalation, which is laughably unlikely, history will look back at this time as WWIII having already begun. But it’s a lot more complicated than just a proxy war against Russia. It’s a proxy war the Western Imperialists via NATO but under the hegemonic control of the US in particular, is waging against the rising challengers of that hegemony. And primary among those is China, which is why we have the constant and unrelenting sinophobia and anti-China propaganda. It’s just that Russia has just been the first and boldest to actually use military force against the encroachment of western imperialist ambitions, but Iran is being forced into taking action now too. Also Hezbollah and Anserallah of course, but I mean among those that are fully recognized as state actors.

      But no, if this does shape up to truly be WWIII, then the line is not between Russia and the world. The lines are between Western Imperialists and Multipolarists.

      • luciferofastora@lemmy.zip
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        2 days ago

        If you include the global south […], most of the world sides with Russia.

        I don’t know if the global south really sides with anyone so much as watching from the sidelines. Not honoring sanctions isn’t the same as actively fighting.

        It’s a proxy war the Western Imperialists via NATO but under the hegemonic control of the US in particular, is waging against the rising challengers of that hegemony.

        i.e. Eastern Imperialists - let’s call them by what they are. This isn’t some noble quest to liberate countries from US control. It’s a maneuver to secure more power in the space before the red line of nuclear deterrence.

        This isn’t freedom vs. imperialism, it’s just imperialism. The People’s Republic China has always been its own hegemony. Russia lost much of its sphere of influence during the collapse of the USSR, but it has made a solid effort to reclaim it since, e.g. with Belarus, Chechenya, Georgia and now Ukraine.

        Neither the US “interventions” in the Middle East nor Israel’s “Operation Swords of Iron” against Palestine nor Russian “special operations” nor (PR)China’s claim to Taiwan (ROC) nor all the other power grabs I won’t bother listing (or don’t even know about) are anything but imperialist ambitions. There are no saints among the leaders in this global standoff.

        But ultimately, it’s the people that pay the price in all of these conflicts. Human suffering, oppression, exploitation transcends all borders. We may have different leaders, different cultures, different experiences of life, but we’re united in the fact that we both will be the victims of this.

        • davel [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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          3 days ago

          I went over this last month https://lemmy.ml/post/21682024/14466154

          Sure, but that vote hasn’t actually done anything, and countries continue to trade with Russia. And the Global South countries haven’t curtailed their relations with Russia one whit. In fact some are building even deeper ties with Russia. They’re building an alternative system to SWIFT, they’re trading in each others’ currencies to avoid the dollar, and they’re making plans for some kind of BANCOR-like currency. The BRICS summit is happening right now, hosted by Russia.

          Not only that, but Global North countries are skirting their own sanctions to trade with Russia on the sly.

          • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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            3 days ago

            Sure, but that vote hasn’t actually done anything, and countries continue to trade with Russia. And the Global South countries haven’t curtailed their relations with Russia one whit.

            It’s almost like nations are motivated by self interest, and not some over-arching political polarization…

            They’re building an alternative system to SWIFT, they’re trading in each others’ currencies to avoid the dollar

            The majority of countries utilizing CIPS isn’t because they’re trying to create a multipolar geopolitical future. It’s because it’s simply a good idea to diversify your reserve currency, especially if your currency is unstable. In all likelihood if the yuan is able to show long periods of stability, the global South will be operating within SWIFT and CIPS.

            The BANCOR idea is just wishful thinking, no one is migrating back to some kind of gold standard anytime soon.

            • davel [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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              3 days ago

              It’s because it’s simply a good idea to diversify your reserve currency, especially if your currency is unstable.

              SWIFT already handles a diversity of currencies including Renminbi, so that’s not what CIPS is about. Everyone knows what it’s about: an alternative to the imperial core’s transaction system.

              The BANCOR idea is just wishful thinking, no one is migrating back to some kind of gold standard anytime soon.

              Implying that BANCOR is anything like a gold standard only shows that you don’t have even a Wikipedia-level understanding of BANCOR.

              • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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                3 days ago

                SWIFT already handles a diversity of currencies including Renminbi](https://www.statista.com/statistics/1189498/share-of-global-payments-by-currency/), so that’s not what CIPS is about.

                Swift handles customer-initiated and institutional payments but excludes trade. Foreign currency reserves are mainly for trading between countries.

                an alternative to the imperial core’s transaction system.

                World systems theory is an abstract concept, that doesn’t account for an anti imperialist movement. Just take it from Immanuel Wallerstein, the person who created it.

                “There are today no socialist systems in the world-economy any more than there are feudal systems because there is only one world system. It is a world-economy and it is by definition capitalist in form”

                By the theory you are utilizing, China is not an alternative to “the imperial core” it’s trying to take the belt.

                Implying that BANCOR is anything like a gold standard only shows that you don’t have even a Wikipedia-level understanding of BANCOR.

                Lol, BANCOR was named after French for Bank Gold. It is a standardized monetary system for trade based on gold.

          • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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            3 days ago

            So then the global north also supports Russia? Of course not.

            You’ve only proven that nobody has strong principles at all, here.

            • davel [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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              3 days ago

              You’ve only proven that nobody has strong principles at all, here.

              By saying “only,” you’re implying that these facts don’t matter, when they clearly do matter. This is the real, material world, not the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Facts on the ground don’t care about your principals.

        • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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          4 days ago

          That’s the whole problem with trying to break down geopolitics into set polarized factions. It makes annotating history a bit easier, but it completely forgoes any nuance.

          • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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            3 days ago

            I think a lot of people on Lemmy do it for emotional reasons, too. They can’t handle a grey-on-grey world, they need it to be black and white.

      • Jax@sh.itjust.works
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        3 days ago

        There needs to be a word for the cultivated delusion shared by the terminally online.