Team Trump slams Biden on Ukraine missile move
WASHINGTON—Donald Trump’s allies voiced vehement criticism Monday of President Joe Biden’s decision to let Ukraine use US-supplied long-range missiles for attacks inside Russia, accusing him of a dangerous escalation.
In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday approved an updated nuclear doctrine, saying that his country could consider using nuclear weapons if it was subject to a conventional missile assault on it supported by a nuclear power.
With two months left in office, lame-duck US President Biden made a major policy change that yields to a long-standing request from Ukraine as it fights the Russian invasion, now in its third year.
The new policy and Biden’s pledge to speed up military aid to Ukraine come as the United States prepares for Trump to take over as president in January, having questioned US assistance throughout the war.
Trump has repeatedly promised to end the war, but has not provided details of how he would do so.
With Russia gaining ground and increasing talk of negotiations, Ukraine is wary of being at a disadvantage when it comes to hashing out a peace settlement.
At a daily briefing, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller accused Russia of escalation by accepting a deployment of North Korean soldiers to fight Ukrainian forces.
Miller noted that Biden, not Trump, was still the US president—for now.
Complicating matters
Biden’s move, however, complicates things for Trump’s incoming administration.
Putin’s decision to change Russia’s official nuclear doctrine is the Kremlin’s answer to the Biden administration’s allowing Ukraine to fire American long-range missiles deep into Russia.
The updated doctrine, which outlines the threats which would make Russia’s leadership consider a nuclear strike, said an attack with conventional missiles, drones or other aircraft could be considered to meet these criteria.
It also said any aggression against Russia by a state which was a member of a coalition would be considered by Moscow to be aggression against it by the whole coalition.
Just weeks before the November US presidential elections, Putin ordered changes to the nuclear doctrine to say that any conventional attack on Russia aided by a nuclear power could be considered to be a joint attack on Russia.
Criticizing Biden’s move, Mike Waltz, Trump’s choice to be national security adviser, told Fox News, “It’s another step up the escalation ladder and nobody knows where this is going.”
‘New war’
“No one anticipated that Joe Biden would ESCALATE the war in Ukraine during the transition period. This is as if he is launching a whole new war,” Richard Grenell, who was acting director of National Intelligence during Trump’s first term, wrote on X.
“Everything has changed now—all previous calculations are null and void. And all for politics,” Grenell said.
For now, Grenell does not have a job in the incoming administration but his name had come up as a possible secretary of state before Trump finally decided to go with Sen. Marco Rubio.
Also weighing in was Donald Trump Jr., who wrote on X: “The Military Industrial Complex seems to want to make sure they get World War 3 going before my father has a chance to create peace and save lives.”
Trump himself has not spoken publicly on Biden’s change of heart regarding the long-range missiles.
