Live Updates: Ukraine-Russia war, US allows Kiev to launch long-range missile strikes into Russia

US President Joe Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to use long-range US missiles in Russia shows his administration wants to “add fuel to the fire” of the conflict, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

“It is obvious that the outgoing administration in the United States wants to add fuel to the fire and escalate the conflict in Ukraine,” Peskov told reporters on Monday.

He said that if Biden’s decision was “formulated and communicated to the Kyiv regime, then of course this is a qualitative new round of tension.”

Peskov said President Vladimir Putin had made Russia’s position “extremely clear and unambiguous” in comments he made in St. Petersburg in September.

At that meeting, Putin was asked to comment on the possibility of the United States giving Ukraine permission to use American weapons to attack targets deep inside Russia.

“If this decision is made, it will mean nothing less than direct involvement – it will mean that NATO countries, the United States and European countries are parties to the war in Ukraine,” Putin said at the time.

“This will mean that NATO countries – the United States and European countries – are at war with Russia.”

He said that if that happened, Russia would “take appropriate decisions in response to the threats that will be made against us.”

On Monday, Peskov said that “everything was said extremely clearly” by Putin in St. Petersburg. “I simply recommend that you reacquaint yourself with these words of the president,” he added.