President Joe Biden is not the President of the United States, anymore, and neither is his deputy, former Vice President, Kamala Harris. 

Despite suffering a resounding defeat at the hands of Donald Trump in the 2024 US elections, the former US President continues to come up with hollow, narrow, and parochial foreign policies geared at provocation instead of preventing major escalation between states. The latest example of an apparent, brazen, lack of vision and merit is Joe Biden allowing Volodymyr Zelensky's regime in Kiev to use Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) against Russia. With such adventurism now materializing, any prospect for peace has been undermined, and Biden, along with Zelensky, is solely responsible for this. 

ATACMS missile usage by Ukraine provocative, uncalled for 

The provocative nature of Biden’s allowance of ATACMS is apparent. 

Ukraine fired six supersonic, tactical, and ballistic missiles into Russian territory targeting a facility in Bryansk. Russian air defenses shot down five of the missiles, while the sixth was partially damaged. The missiles can fly close to 300km in range, meaning that Russian cities in close proximity to the border with Ukraine can easily be targeted by the Zelensky regime. Moreover, by deploying ATACMS missiles, Zelensky's regime has cemented a reputation of Ukraine being a war-obsessed country that believes in escalation instead of negotiations with Russia to end the conflict. Even the bellicose rhetoric after Joe Biden greenlighted the use of ATACMS missiles hinted at hubris and defiance: 

‘Ukraine has long-range drones of its own production. We now have long ‘Neptune’ (Ukrainian cruise missiles) and not just one. And now we have ATACMS. And we will use all of this.’ – Volodymr Zelensky. 

Lowering of nuclear threshold

However, by using all of this arsenal, Zelensky has put Eastern European security in peril, which is not of Moscow’s own doing. 

Recall that Russia’s legitimate response of attacking Ukraine was due to the persistence on the part of Kiev and its Western allies that NATO’s eastward expansion in Europe and Ukraine, becoming a member of the military alliance, is imperative for a more secure world order. Such provocations, however, prompted Putin to initiate a special operation against the Zelensky regime in Ukraine, which resulted in hostilities, trust deficits, and a prolonged Russian response to nefarious designs of expansionism.

However, since the war commenced, Moscow ruled out using nuclear weapons. The latest decision to deploy ATACMS missiles by Ukraine is now slated to change that as it lowers the nuclear threshold. Note further that straight after the ballistic missile strikes, Vladimir Putin updated Russia’s nuclear doctrine, where Moscow considers aggression from a non-nuclear state (such as Ukraine) with the involvement of a nuclear weapons state (such as the United States) as a joint attack on Russia. This revision in response to Ukrainian provocation and American involvement has resulted in a heightened risk of nuclearization, which is, again, of Zelensky’s own doing. 

Also, Biden’s decision to enable Ukraine to fire ballistic missiles in response to Russia’s legitimate right to self-defense has resulted in the United States stepping into the conflict as a partisan backer of Ukraine not a resolver of conflicts. Giving Zelensky the license to attack Russia with impunity has meant that Washington D.C. is now a direct combatant in the war, which Biden’s successor, Donald Trump, has sought to avoid. This is despite the fact that gains from such adventurism are minimal. While true that the ATACMS long-range capability poses a threat to Russia, military analysts contend that only a fraction of Russia’s territory can be captured by Ukraine and such attacks will not have a decisive impact on the thirty-three-month-long conflict.

However, neither Zelensky nor Biden seems to understand this incontrovertible reality, which has meant that Ukraine has compromised global peace for narrow political gains.  

New phase of war inevitable

Deployment of ATACMS also establishes an image of both Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelensky as warmongers rather than peaceniks. Both leaders are involved in a deliberate, concerted attempt to prolong global conflicts, similar to how the Biden administration previously offered partisan support to the genocidal Netanyahu regime in "Israel" to conduct massacres in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and Syria. For Zelensky too, the talk of de-escalation with Russia has remained a distinct afterthought with his constant appeals centering on increasing Western support in terms of arms and ammunition. 

Yet none of these references are on merit. Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary, Sabrina Singh has admitted that the United States does not have any indication that Russia plans on deploying nuclear weapons in its conflict with Ukraine. However, that could well and truly change with a new phase of war unfolding if undue provocations are not stopped. This was evident back when French President Emmanuel Macron senselessly called for sending more European troops to Ukraine despite a lack of unity in the European Union on the direct confrontation with Russia. In response, President Putin ordered a tactical nuclear weapons drill. 

Biden’s political gambit 

It is clear that Biden greenlighting ATACMS missiles to Ukraine has led to unwarranted escalation with Russia, which makes this move nothing short of a political gambit. With the Democratic Party in the United States now confined to the barracks in American domestic politics and Biden’s political rhetoric lacking relevance in a national landscape dominated by Donald Trump and the Republicans, the timing of his authorization becomes questionable. It seems as if Biden is seeking to gain lost political capital by appealing to the US electorate by projecting solidarity with Ukraine against Russian aggression. 

The truth, however, is that such moves will backfire for Biden domestically and for Ukraine internationally. 

Biden, like Zelensky, wishes to prolong the war in Ukraine, and by authorizing and deploying ATACMS missiles, neither is interested in peace with Russia.