Ukraine Is Poised to Strike Into Russia After Biden Approves Use of Long-Range Missiles

Ukraine signaled a new sense of urgency on Monday following a decision by the Biden administration to allow long-range strikes inside Russia using American-provided missiles, with Ukrainian politicians suggesting that the first launches would come soon and without warning.

With two months left in his administration, President Biden finally relented after months of pleas from Ukraine that it needed to fire at targets deeper inside Russia to more effectively degrade Moscow’s forces.

But hanging over Ukraine’s newfound freedom to attempt deeper strikes was the impending ascent of President-elect Donald J. Trump to the White House in January. It is unclear how much of the Biden administration’s approach to Ukraine will survive once Mr. Trump takes office, including this most recent shift.

Mr. Trump has been skeptical of continuing American aid to Ukraine and has said he wants to bring about a quick resolution to the war — without saying how.

“The impact may be more political, albeit with a narrowing window of opportunity,” said Matthew Savill, the military sciences director for the Royal United Services Institute, a British defense research organization. “The Ukrainians need to convince the incoming U.S. administration that they are still worth backing — in President Trump’s transactional view, a ‘good investment.’”

American officials said the missiles were likely to be deployed, at least initially, against combined Russian and North Korean troops in territory Ukraine has captured in the Kursk region of southern Russia. Ukraine invaded Kursk in part to take control of Russian land it could use as leverage in peace talks. It could deploy American missiles for longer-range strikes to try to safeguard its position ahead of any negotiations Mr. Trump might push for.