Why the Trump administration is branding Biden's decision to arm Ukraine with missiles 'insane'
GB News
US president signs off on deploying ATACMS rockets like UK’s Storm Shadow missiles
Supporters of Donald Trump have hit out at President Biden’s decision to arm Ukraine with ATACMS missiles in the final months of his presidency.
The move, a major shift in policy possibly in response to North Korea sending troops to support Russia, has been criticised as a dangerous escalation of the war, anti-democratic and highly costly.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican and staunch Trump supporter, condemned Biden on X writing: "On his way out of office, Joe Biden is dangerously trying to start WWIII by authorizing Ukraine the use of U.S long range missiles into Russia.
“The American people gave a mandate on November 5 against these exact America last decisions and do NOT want to fund or fight foreign wars.
“We want to fix our own problems. Enough of this, it must stop."
Biden’s decision marks a significant bolstering of US support for Ukraine after America repeatedly vetoed the UK or France giving their similar Storm Shadow missiles to Zelensky’s forces.
With a range of 186 miles, ATACMS are long range missiles capable of hitting targets deep within Russia.
Russian President Putin previously warned ‘NATO will be entering into a direct war with direct war with Russia if Ukraine uses long-range Western missiles to strike inside Russia.’
Maria Butina, a Russian MP, accused the Biden administration on Monday of “trying to escalate the situation to the maximum while they still have power”.
“They are seriously risking the start of World War Three,” she said, adding that she hopes Donald Trump would reverse the decision
David Sacks, a close ally of Elon Musk and major donor to the Trump campaign, criticised the decision as anti-democratic.
“President Trump won a clear mandate to end the war in Ukraine. So what does Biden do in his final two months in office? Massively escalate it,” he wrote on X.
Donald Trump won a landslide majority in the recent US election and one of his keycampaignpledges was to end the war in Ukraine and scale back American aid to Zelensky who he has called ‘the greatest salesman in history’.
Some Trump fans see the move as a final attempt by the Democrats to sure up Ukrainian forces at the expense of the American taxpayer.
ATACMS missiles cost roughly one million dollars each. The US has given $67 billion worth of military assistance to Ukraine since the invasion in February 2022.
Donald Trump Jnr said last night: “The Military Industrial Complex seems to want to make sure they get World War Three going before my father has a chance to create peace and save lives.”
Trump Communications Director Steven Cheung said: "As President Trump has said on the campaign trail, he is the only person who can bring both sides together in order to negotiate peace, and work towards ending the war and stopping the killing.
“Only official statements on this matter will come directly from President Trump or his authorised spokespeople."
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The escalation of the war is almost certainly at odds with Trump’s aims for the conflict. He has promised to end the war ‘on day one’ and even questioned whether Zelensky should cede some land to Russia.
The row comes after Russia launched a massive aerial attack- roughly 120 missiles and 90 drones- on Ukraine yesterday.
Shadow Defence Secretary, James Cartlidge MP, told GB News that Joe Biden allowing Ukraine to fire long-range US missiles into Russia is a 'welcome' development.
“I do hope it now paves the way for the UK granting full autonomy to Ukraine in relation to the use of Storm Shadow missiles,” he said.
President Trump will be inaugurated on January 20.