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Putin lowers bar for Russia to use nuclear weapons as Ukraine launches long-range missiles

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Putin lowers bar for Russia to use nuclear weapons as Ukraine launches long-range missiles

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WASHINGTON − Ukraine carried out its first strike using six longer-range U.S.-provided missiles on Tuesday, as Russian President Vladimir Putin lowered the bar for a nuclear attack after President Joe Biden lifted a ban on Ukraine using the ATACMS missiles to strike targets deeper within Russia’s borders.

A U.S. official confirmed Tuesday that Ukraine had launched its first strikes with the weapons under a new policy approved by the Biden administration. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the use of the Army Tactical Missile System, which can strike targets nearly 200 miles from its ground-based launch site.

The Ukrainian strike hit a weapons depot near the city of Karachev in Russia’s Bryansk region, more than 70 miles from Ukraine’s border.

Russia’s defense ministry said it intercepted five of the missiles and damaged one. Falling debris from one missile fell on a military site, lighting it on fire, according to Russian state media.

Meanwhile, in an apparent reference to the U.S. policy change, Putin updated Russia’s nuclear doctrine to say Russia will consider using a nuclear weapon if it or its ally Belarus faces aggression from “the use of conventional weapons that created a critical threat to their sovereignty and (or) their territorial integrity.”

Russia will also consider a conventional attack against it by a state without nuclear weapons but supported by a nuclear power as a “joint attack,” according to the new doctrine.

Before, the doctrine dictated Russia would use nuclear weapons only in response to a nuclear attack or a non-nuclear attack that threatened the state’s existence. Russia first issued the doctrine in 2020.

More: Biden lets Ukraine launch long-range missiles into Russia. What’s it mean for the war?

Putin’s threats to use a nuclear weapon in response to U.S. and NATO assistance for Ukraine have escalated throughout the conflict, now in its thousandth day.

In late September, he said allowing Ukraine to carry out the long-range strikes would represent a “red line” for the U.S. and its allies, and Russia would consider using one of its estimated 5,580 nuclear weapons in response.

Biden has now granted Ukraine that permission, multiple outlets reported on Sunday, although the White House has yet to formally make the announcement.

Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Ukraine’s allies without confirming the policy change.

“There’s been much said in the media today that we have received approval to take relative actions,” he said in a statement on Sunday. “But strikes are not carried out with words. These things are not announced. The missiles will speak for themselves.”

The U.S. already provided Ukraine with the long-range missiles, which can reach up to 190 miles. But the Biden administration stopped short of allowing Ukraine’s military to use them to strike targets within Russia’s borders to avoid provoking a nuclear response from Russia, which has said the move would more directly involve the U.S. in the war.

The missiles are expensive and in limited supply. The U.S. will not “dip below our own readiness levels” by giving too many to Ukraine, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said Monday.

Advocates of giving Ukraine long-range strike capabilities say the missiles will help Kyiv take out military targets farther from the border that enable Russia to carry out air and ground attacks.

Critics fear it could escalate U.S. involvement in the war and push Putin over the edge to use a nuclear weapon.

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Contributing: Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY; Reuters

This story was updated to add a video.

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