Biden allows Kyiv to use US missiles against military targets inside Russia

KYIV, Nov 18 (AFP/Reuters): US President Joe Biden has cleared Kyiv to use long-range American missiles against military targets inside Russia, a US official told AFP on Sunday, hours after Russia targeted Ukraine's power grid in a deadly barrage.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, was confirming reports from The New York Times and The Washington Post that the major policy shift-long demanded by Ukraine-was in response to North Korea deploying troops to help Moscow's war effort.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has long pushed for authorisation from Washington to use the powerful Army Tactical Missile System, known by its initials ATACMS, to hit targets inside Russia. Poland was among the first to welcome the development.

"With the entry into the war of North Korea troops and (Sunday's) massive attack of Russian missiles, President Biden responded in a language that (Russian President) V.Putin understands," Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski posted on X. "The victim of aggression has the right to defend himself," he added.

The Kremlin accused US President Joe Biden on Monday of escalating the war in Ukraine by allowing Kyiv to use long-range missiles supplied by Washington to strike targets inside Russia.

Zelensky's response, in his evening address Sunday, was more muted, referring to the military's "long range capability" as one of the main points of Ukraine's victory plan.

"Today, there are many media reports that we have received permission to take appropriate actions," he said. "But strikes are not made with words. Such things are not announced. The missiles will speak for themselves. Definitely."

News of Biden's decision came hours after Ukraine announced nationwide emergency power restrictions from Monday after Russia's massive attack, which killed 11 civilians and further damaged the country's already fragile energy grid.

Russia's latest barrage brought swift international condemnation.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denounced the attack, which his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement had targeted "energy and critical civilian infrastructure".

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen described the attack on the power grid as "horrible" in comments to Brazil's Globo News. "We will stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes," she added. "Ukraine can count on us."

Zelensky said Moscow launched 120 missiles and almost 100 drones, targeting Kyiv as well as southern, central and far-western corners of the country.

The attack, which officials said was one of Russia's largest, came as Moscow's assault neared its 1,000th day, which will be marked at the United Nations on Monday, attended by Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga. Civilians were killed in the Mykolaiv, Lviv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa regions.

Biden's announcement-and the latest devastation-came at a time when Moscow has been steadily advancing in Ukraine's east. The imminent return of Donald Trump to the White House has raised fears over the future of US support for Kyiv.

Meanwhile, two children were among 10 people killed when a Russian missile hit a residential building in Ukraine's northeastern city of Sumy, Ukrainian officials said, while another missile strike left the region's administrative centre without power.

Fifty-five people, including eight children, were also injured when the Russian missile hit the nine-storey building in the city late on Sunday, the city council of Sumy said on the Telegram messaging app.

"Sunday evening for the city of Sumy became hell, a tragedy that Russia brought to our land," Volodymyr Artyukh, the head of the Sumy military administration said in a post on the administration's Telegram messaging channel.

The military administration said another missile hit critical infrastructure, leaving the city without power.

Rescuers and all necessary services continued to work at the scene and psychologists were providing assistance to those affected, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said on Telegram. More than 400 people were evacuated, the Service added.

Photographs posted on Telegram by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine showed firefighters battling a blaze consuming cars and rescuers carrying people out of a building. One image showed a multi-storey building with nearly all windows blown out and its facade damaged.