(NewsNation) — President Joe Biden has reversed some of his own policy positions on Ukraine even as Russia has used new tactics in the conflict and warned of escalation.
Ukraine says Russia launched an intercontinental ballistic missile, one carrying a conventional warhead, toward it. ICBMs can also be used to launch nuclear weapons, and Russian President Vladimir Putin recently lowered the bar for using nuclear weapons in what appeared to be a threat to the U.S. and its NATO allies.
Biden has remained relatively silent since the election and, until now, has been working behind the scenes to cement his foreign policy legacy and make sure Ukraine has what it needs, at least until President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
In just the past 48 hours, Biden has reversed some of his own policy positions, allowing the use of nonpersistent antipersonnel land mines and the use of long-range missiles to strike within Russia.
A U.S. official told NewsNation the land mines will significantly enhance Ukraine’s defensive capabilities, especially in the east.
Nonpersistent land mines are designed to become inert after a period of time that generally ranges from four hours to two weeks.
Biden also promised $7 billion in military assistance by the time he left office.
His actions are not sitting well with the Kremlin. The U.S. has rejected the claim Russia used an ICBM, saying instead the weapon detected by Kyiv was a new medium-range missile.
Putin warned Russia could use that new missile to strike countries that allow Ukraine to use their missiles to fire at Russia, another threat toward the U.S.
Thursday morning, the Biden administration also announced sanctions on Russia’s largest remaining bank that had not been sanctioned by the U.S. before. The goal is to stop Russia from funding its war machine.
Biden has also announced he would be using drawdown authority to provide Ukraine with weapons from America’s own arsenal.
The Biden administration has said it can support Ukraine and Israel and still defend the U.S., but a top U.S. commander thinks otherwise.
The head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command has warned that providing billions of dollars worth of air defenses to Ukraine and Israel is now affecting our ability to respond in the Indo-Pacific region if China invades Taiwan.
China has been ramping up its pressure against the island, doing massive military exercises, including one involving 125 warplanes in October.
Adm. Samuel Paparo told a group in Washington this week that support is eating into stocks and saying otherwise would be dishonest.
“With some of the Patriots that have been employed, some of the surface-to-air missiles that have been employed, it’s now eating into the stocks,” he said. “Inherently, it imposes costs on the readiness of America to respond in the Indo-Pacific region, which is the most stressing theater for the quantity and quality of munitions, because the PRC is the most capable potential adversary in the world.”
The Pentagon said the ability to send weapons is limited by what we have on the shelves, with Biden announcing another $275 million of weapons for Ukraine this week.
