Kremlin says Biden 'fueling' tensions by permitting missile strikes

The Kremlin said any U.S. decision to allow Ukraine to fire American missiles deep into Russia would mean it was directly involved in the conflict and accused President Joe Biden's administration of a major escalation.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had seen media reports that Biden cleared strikes, adding: "It's obvious that the outgoing administration in Washington intends to take steps in order to continue fueling the fire and provoking further escalation of tensions."

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the reports from The New York Times and The Washington Post that the major policy shift - long demanded by Ukraine - was in response to the DPRK deploying troops to help Moscow's efforts in the conflict.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been pushing for months for authorization from Washington to use the powerful Army Tactical Missile System, known by its initials ATACMS, to hit targets inside Russia.

"If such a decision was really formulated and announced to the Kyiv regime, then of course it's a qualitatively new spiral of tensions and a qualitatively new situation from the point of view of the U.S.'s engagement in the conflict," Peskov said, describing the decision as "reckless and dangerous."

He said Vladimir Putin had expressed Russia's position clearly in September when the President said that such a move would put NATO "at war" with Russia.

In such a case, "we will take the appropriate decisions based on the threats that we will face," Putin said two months ago.

Peskov said on Monday that Putin's position is that such strikes would ultimately be carried out not by Ukraine, but by the countries that give permission for such use of missiles.

The Kremlin spokesman said this was because "the targets are set not by Ukrainian military but by specialists from these Western countries. That fundamentally changes the modality of their engagement. That's the danger and provocative nature of this situation," he added.

Meanwhile, China reiterated calls for a peaceful settlement to the conflict. "An early ceasefire and a political solution are in the interests of all parties," foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said when asked about the reported U.S. decision.

"The top priority is to cool down the situation as soon as possible. 

"China has always encouraged and supported all efforts conducive to a peaceful resolution of the crisis and is willing to continue to play a constructive role in the political resolution of the Ukrainian crisis in its own way."

Zelenskyy has been lobbying Western allies for permission to strike targets within Russian territory, arguing that he is effectively being forced to fight with his hands tied because he cannot hit the bases Putin is using to launch air attacks.

The Ukraine President said: "There's been much said in the media today that we have received approval to take relative actions. 

"But strikes are not carried out with words. These things are not announced. The missiles will speak for themselves."