LONDON — Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told reporters that new changes to Russia’s nuclear weapons doctrine signed by President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday “allow the use of Western non-nuclear missiles by the Armed Forces of Ukraine against Russia to trigger a nuclear response.”
Peskov’s comments came shortly after three US officials confirmed to ABC News that President Joe Biden had agreed to allow Ukraine to use the US MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System — commonly known as ATACMS — to strike targets in western Russia. Kursk region
The administration has not publicly confirmed the policy change. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters at a briefing on Monday that he would not confirm or deny approval for the use of ATACMS inside Russia, but said the US response to Russian-North Korean military cooperation in the war “would be firm.”
About 10,000 North Korean troops are currently planning to deploy to the battlefield in Russia’s Kursk region, US officials said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov is pictured on the sidelines of the BRICS summit on October 24, 2024 in Kazan, Russia.
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The Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that it had already defeated a Ukrainian ATACMS attack in the western Bryansk region.
Ukrainian forces fired six “ballistic missiles,” the ministry wrote on its official Telegram page, with five of them downed and the sixth damaged. “According to confirmed data, ATACMS operational-tactical missiles made in the United States of America were used,” he wrote.
The changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine were unveiled weeks ago, but Putin signed them off only on Tuesday, as Moscow officials expressed anger at the US decision to allow ATACMS to be used on Russian territory.
The doctrine states that Russia can now launch a nuclear attack against a country that supports a non-nuclear country in an attack on Russia that seriously threatens the country’s integrity.
Moscow has repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine and its Western partners during a full-scale invasion of the country.
Western leaders, including President Joe Biden, have said that avoiding a direct collision between Russia and NATO is a top priority given the risk of nuclear war.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov is pictured on the sidelines of the BRICS summit on October 24, 2024 in Kazan, Russia.
Maxim Shemetov/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
