Russian officials consider evacuating families as Biden OKs long-range strikes

Authorities in Russian regions bordering Ukraine are considering evacuating residents due to the threat of long-range weapons that the United States has reportedly authorized Kiev to use.

US President Joe Biden has authorized Ukraine to use the Washington-supplied Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, to strike inside Russian territory. New York Times and Washington Post reported, although the White House has not issued a statement. Newsweek has contacted the White House for comment via email.

Unnamed US officials said that allowing Ukraine’s forces to use the weapons in limited attacks would not fundamentally change the course of the war. Still, the move provides a boost for Kiev, especially since France and Britain are set to allow Ukraine to use SCALP/Storm Shadow missiles, the French newspaper Le Figaro reported.

An unnamed official from Russia’s Voronezh region expressed panic at the prospect of Ukrainian missile strikes, telling independent outlet Verstka: “We have to pack our things and take our relatives somewhere far away.”

Another official from the region adjacent to the Ukrainian war zone said they sent their counterparts “missile strike radius maps.”

The outlet also reported that officials believed the region was well protected by Russian air defenses and cast doubt on Ukraine using “expensive missiles” on non-military targets.

Expected Ukrainian targets include the Baltimore airfield on the southwestern outskirts of Voronezh, from which key objects have already been moved, Verstka reported. Companies involved in aviation and missile production are also likely targets, although the outlet quoted another official as saying “the mood is calm” to dismiss concerns about Ukrainian strikes.

Biden’s permission is something Kyiv has long called for, but the urgency of its pleas gained momentum after North Korea sent thousands of troops to fight alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces in the Kursk region.

“Further clarification is needed on whether the authorization is limited to Kursk Oblast. If so, President Biden should drop that limitation,” said John Hardie, deputy director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Russia program. Newsweek.

“Hitting targets such as Russian and North Korean troop concentrations, command-and-control posts and logistics hubs can help Ukraine defend its salient in Kursk Oblast,” he added.

ATACMS are launched from HIMARS and MLRS, multiple rocket systems, and their range of up to 200 miles has allowed Kyiv to hit sites in Crimea and the bridge over the occupied peninsula.

Russian military bloggers have said that Biden dropping the ATACMS ban could mark a significant turning point in the war.

Journalist Roman Saponkov’s Telegram channel said that the use of HIMARS since the summer of 2022 has destroyed logistics hubs and that the ATACMS strikes in Crimea caused “severe damage, destroyed a lot of equipment and caused significant human losses.”

“Targets deep inside the country will face similar consequences,” added the post shared by the account @WarTranslated on X, formerly Twitter.

Hardie believed that the outgoing Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration should also expand Ukraine’s long-range precision strike capabilities, such as transferring JASSM air-launched cruise missiles. He said: “They should also ensure that Ukraine has the timely intelligence it needs to effectively prosecute such attacks.”