US allows Ukraine to use long-range missile strikes into Russia

Our live coverage has ended for the day. Follow the latest updates on the Ukraine-Russia war here.

Although the Biden administration has revealed scant details about its decision to green-light Ukraine’s use of long-range American-made missiles in Russia, a US official told CNN the weapons are intended to be used primarily in Kursk — the region of Russia where Ukraine launched its surprise counteroffensive in the summer.

The Institute for the Study of War estimates that around 250 Russian military objectives – including 17 air bases – are in the range of Ukrainian ATACMS.

CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh breaks down what impact these weapons could have on the war:

Polish President Andrzej Duda gives a statement to media in Warsaw, Poland, on January 10.

Poland’s President Andrzej Duda told CNN’s Jim Sciutto he thinks that incoming President-elect Donald Tump’s policy toward the Russia-Ukraine war “will not be a soft policy.”

Still, Duda told CNN on Monday that he is “calm and peaceful” about the kind of policy Trump will implement.

Asked what he told Trump in a conversation after the presidential election, he said that he reiterated what he said in a conversation with him in April, telling him “how from our Polish perspective, the situation looks connected with Russian aggression against Ukraine,” according to an English translation of the interview.

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President of Poland Andrzej Duda speaks to CNN

04:09 - Source: CNN

During the presidential campaign, Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, cast strong doubts on continued US commitment to Kyiv as the war drags on more than two-and-half years after Russian forces launched a full-scale invasion. Moreover, Trump has made comments that suggest the US could pressure Ukraine to accept an uneasy truce with Russia.

On US President Joe Biden’s move to allow Ukraine to use US-made long-rage missiles inside Russia, Duda called it a “sensible decision” and said he is “very delighted.”

There are now more than 11,000 North Korean troops engaging in Russian combat operations against Ukraine in the Russian Kursk region, according to a US State Department spokesperson, which is up from more than 10,000 reported last week.

Responding to a question about Russia’s accusation that the US is escalating the war by allowing Ukraine to use US-provided long-range missiles to strike within Russia, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that “when you look at escalation of this conflict, it has been Russia that has escalated the conflict time and time again,” pointing to the uptick of North Korean soldiers.

Kursk is the southern Russian region where Kyiv launched its surprise counteroffensive in the summer, to prepare to take back territory. The US-made weapons are intended to be used primarily in that region for now, a US official said. Russia is trying to take Kursk off the table as a potential bargaining chip for the Ukrainians in any future peace talks.

Miller would not confirm on the record that the US has changed its policy to allow the long-range strikes. A senior US official familiar with the decision confirmed on Sunday that President Joe Biden had changed its policy to allow Ukraine to strike inside Russia with US-provided ATACMS — a move that comes after the deployment of those North Korean troops to Kursk.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week the US would continue to “adapt and adjust” its policy.

“Every month that we’ve been engaged in the defense of Ukraine since the Russian aggression we have adapted and adjusted to the needs of Ukraine as the battlefield changes, as what Russia is doing changes, as new elements are introduced — for example, the North Korean forces,” he said in remarks at NATO.

Russia suffered its highest number of weekly losses since it launched its invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said on Monday.

The ministry reported 11,370 Russian losses last week, saying on X, “We make the occupiers pay the highest price for their terror.”

Citing the Ukrainian General Staff of the Armed Forces, the UK Defense Ministry said Monday that Russia suffered an average of 1,498 daily casualties in the first 12 days of November — up from October’s record average 1,354 losses per day. According to the ministry on X, the numbers indicate that an “upward trajectory” is likely to continue.

What the US is saying: Meanwhile, the Pentagon’s Deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said that the US believes Russia continues to suffer about 1,200 casualties per day.

“Our assessment is still roughly 1,200 casualties per day,” Singh told reporters on Monday. “That’s what we feel comfortable with right now.”

Russia’s casualty numbers remain shrouded in secrecy. In September 2022, former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said 5,937 troops had been killed in the war. The ministry has not published an update since.

This picture taken on October 12, 2015 shows the C-Lion1 submarine telecommunications cable being laid to the bottom of the Baltic Sea by cable laying ship "Ile de Brehat" off the shore of Helsinki, Finland. Germany and Finland said November 18, 2024 they were "deeply concerned" that an undersea telecommunications cable linking the countries had been severed and opened a probe, at a time of high tensions with Russia. "Our European security is not only under threat from Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, but also from hybrid warfare by malicious actors," the countries' foreign ministers said in a joint statement.

An unexplained fault in an undersea telecommunications cable linking Finland and Germany has disrupted communication services, the company that runs the link said Monday.

The C-Lion1 cable that connects Helsinki to Rostock in Germany was built and is operated by Cinia, a state-controlled Finnish company.

Covering a distance of nearly 1,200 kilometers (730 miles), the cable is the only direct connection of its kind between Finland and central Europe and it runs alongside other key pieces of infrastructure, including gas pipelines and power cables.

It is unclear what caused the fault — Cinia said in a statement that it is still investigating the issue.

Additionally, a communications cable between Lithuania and Sweden was cut on Sunday morning around 10 a.m. local time, a spokesperson from telecommunications company Telia Lithuania confirmed to CNN.

It’s the second known instance of a subsea communications cable line being disrupted in the Baltic Sea in the last 48 hours.

The company’s monitoring systems could tell there was a cut due to the traffic disruption, and that the cause was likely physical damage to the cable itself, Telia Lithuania spokesperson Audrius Stasiulaitis said.

Some context: The malfunctions come just weeks after the United States warned that it had detected increased Russian military activity around key undersea cables. Two US officials told CNN in September that the US believed Russia was now more likely to carry out potential sabotage operations on these critical pieces of infrastructure.

The warning came after a joint investigation by the public broadcasters of Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland, which reported in April that Russia had a fleet of suspected spy ships operating in Nordic waters as part of a program of potential sabotage of underwater cables and wind farms in the region. Read more here.

This post has been updated with information about the damaged cable between Lithuania and Sweden.

President Joe Biden speaks at the National Veterans Day Observance at the Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., on November 11.

US President Joe Biden has authorized Ukraine to use powerful long-range American weapons inside Russia, according to two US officials familiar with the decision.

The decision comes at a critical moment for Ukraine as the war has raged nearly 1,000 days.

Here’s what to know:

Here’s where the battle for control stands in Ukraine:

Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles to attack targets inside Russia would constitute “direct participation” of the United States in the war, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Monday.

Her statement echoed previous comments from Russian President Vladimir Putin in September at the St. Petersburg United Cultures Forum.

Putin was asked to comment on the possibility of the US granting Ukraine permission to use American weapons to strike targets deep inside Russia. Putin replied at the time: “If this decision is made, it will mean nothing short of direct involvement — it will mean that NATO countries, the United States, and European countries are parties to the war in Ukraine.”

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius speaks at a press conference at the Airbus helicopter factory on November 18, in Donauworth, Germany.

Germany on Monday said it was delivering 4,000 AI-controlled strike drones to Ukraine, days after Kyiv slammed German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said the package marks “a huge step for the Ukrainians because they are AI-controlled and can disable enemy electronic defenses.”

The drones, manufactured by the German company Helsing, “can reach targets up to 30-40 kilometers in the hinterland, especially command posts and logistical hubs,” Pistorius added.

The decision comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rebuked Scholz for holding a call with Putin about bringing the war in Ukraine to an end, ending a concerted European effort to isolate the Russian leader.

Although the drones are referred to as a “Mini-Taurus,” Germany is holding firm in its refusal to send Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.

On Sunday, the Biden administration granted permission for Kyiv to strike targets deep inside Russia with US-made weapons, ending its years-long opposition to the move.

A spokesperson for the German Defense Ministry, said it was unable to provide details about when the “Mini-Taurus” drones would be delivered, but said the package “is currently in preparation.”

Ukrainians living in the capital Kyiv have responded to US President Joe Biden’s ATACMS decision with a mixture of gratitude, optimism – and frustration that the green-light to strike targets deep inside Russia with American-made weapons was not granted sooner.

Although it is not clear how many ATACMS Ukraine has at its disposal – or where in Russia it may target – a US official told CNN the weapons are intended to be used primarily in Kursk, the Russian region where Ukraine launched its surprise counteroffensive in the summer.

Yevhenii Lesyk

“I think it’s time to allow hitting all over Russia, because they only understand force,” Yevhenii Lesyk, a 26-year-old metallurgist, told CNN on Monday afternoon in Kyiv. “I think that after Kursk region they will also permit to operate all over Russia. So we’ll see.”

Volodymyr Drach

Volodymyr Drach, a 70-year-old reserve colonel from Western Ukraine, asked why Biden had taken so long to grant Kyiv permission to use long-range weapons.

“It’s long past time to authorize the use of long-range weapons, because Putin is hitting all over Ukraine. It’s a shame that our Western partners, including the United States, don’t understand this,” he said.

Tetiana

A 35-year-old resident called Tetiana, who declined to give her last name, agreed: “They had to take this decision a long time ago, from the first days of the war.”

Liudmyla Havliuk

Liudmyla Havliuk, a 52-year-old Kyiv resident who works in sales, said she hoped Ukraine will be able to strike targets other than in Kursk.

“My son is fighting since the start of the war. So we fully support a permission for our boys to hit them (the Russians) everywhere in Russia. They should have given us such permission a long time ago instead of waiting. How many of our people died? What they’ve been waiting for?”

President elect Donald Trump arrives to speak during an election night event at the Palm Beach Convention Center on November 6, in West Palm Beach, Florida.

The incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump may complicate the Kremlin’s reaction to President Joe Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to strike targets deep inside Russia with US-made weapons, Alexey Naumov, a Russian political analyst, told CNN.

Although Russian officials have stressed that such a decision would mark a major escalation that would be met with a severe response, Naumov said there would “definitely” be a reaction from the Kremlin, “but I do not expect it to be a full-scale escalation.”

“The Kremlin will give Donald Trump some time to maybe reevaluate this policy, readjust it,” Naumov told CNN during an interview in Moscow.

Trump, who will take office in just over two months, has said he wants to bring the war in Ukraine to a swift end, but has not specified how he will do so.

Although Trump has not yet commented on Biden’s decision, his son, Donald Trump Jr., has criticized it.

“The Military Industrial Complex seems to want to make sure they get World War 3 going before my father has a chance to create peace and save lives,” he said on social media.

However, Naumov said the prospect of an incoming Trump administration – and the possibility that Trump may reverse Biden’s decision – means the Kremlin may be willing “to give a certain leeway here and not escalate to the extent it could have escalated.”

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte delivers a statement during a joint press conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on November 18.

NATO is “working at pace” to deliver on pledges made to Ukraine earlier this year at the bloc’s annual summit, its Secretary-General Mark Rutte said.

“At NATO, we are working at pace to deliver on the commitments made at the Washington summit – and support for Ukraine is as important as ever,” Rutte said Monday.

In the summit declaration, NATO members affirmed their “unwavering commitment to Ukraine as a sovereign, democratic, independent state” and pledged long-term support to Kyiv.

Speaking Monday after the Biden administration gave Ukraine permission to strike targets deep inside Russia with long-range missiles, Rutte pointed to recent escalatory moves by Moscow and its allies.

“We see the dangerous expansion of the war, with North Korean troops fighting alongside Russia against Ukraine. This comes on top of the supply of ammunition that North Korea provides, the drones from Iran and the dual use goods supplied by China, all of which fuel Russia’s war machine,” the alliance’s leader added.

A destroyed car in front of a residential building that was damaged by a Russian missile strike in Sumy, Ukraine, on November 18.

President Joe Biden’s authorization for Kyiv to use long-range American missiles inside Russia came after one of Moscow’s largest aerial attacks on Ukraine in months.

At least eight people have been killed and 39 others injured after a Russian missile attack on the southern city of Odesa, officials said Monday.

Odesa was already reeling from strikes on Sunday, which also struck several major cities, triggering blackouts and causing widespread damage. At least five people were killed in the attacks which also impacted Dnipro in the east of Ukraine, Rivne in the west and the capital Kyiv.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said approximately 120 missiles and 90 drones were launched overnight into Sunday in the Russian strikes. Ukraine’s defense forces destroyed over 140 aerial targets, he added.

The last comparable attack happened on August 28, when Russia launched 127 missiles and 109 attack drones at Ukraine, the Ukrainian Air Force said.

Hospitals in Odesa are running on power from generators and Ukrainian energy company DTEK said its thermal power plants were attacked and equipment was “severely damaged.”

Ukraine’s energy supplies have been repeatedly targeted by Russia’s attacks since its full-scale invasion in February 2022, causing rolling blackouts. Bombardments have intensified in recent months, leaving the country in a precarious position as the war grinds into its third winter.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that “missiles will speak for themselves,” in his first comments after US President Joe Biden granted Ukraine permission to strike targets deep in Russia with American-made weapons.

In a short, cryptic reference to Biden’s decision, Zelensky said there had been “a lot of talk in the media about us receiving permission” for certain military actions.

“But strikes are not carried out with words. Such things are not announced. Missiles will speak for themselves. They certainly will,” he said in a presidential address on Sunday.

He said “long-range capabilities for our army” is a key part of his “Victory Plan” for winning the war.

Russian strikes: Also in his address, Zelensky called Sunday’s strikes on Ukraine “one of the largest and most dangerous Russian attacks in the entire war.” He claimed that most of the targets had been intercepted, and that Russia had aimed for energy and critical infrastructure.

The president added that over a million households had been left without electricity and that restoration work was underway in four regions.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky awards a Ukrainian service member during his visit to the town of Pokrovsk, Ukraine, on November 18.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has met troops defending Pokrovsk, a key strategic city in the country’s eastern Donbas region, which Russia has been closing in on for months.

“I visited the location of the 25th Separate Airborne Sicheslav Brigade, which is defending the city,” Zelensky said Monday.

In a video posted on his social media, Zelensky is seen shaking hands with soldiers and presenting them with awards.

“This is a tense and challenging direction. It is only thanks to the strength of our warriors that the East has not been completely occupied by Russia. The enemy is confronted every day,” he added.

Shifting frontlines: Zelensky’s trip comes as Russian troops are putting severe pressure on Ukraine’s eastern frontlines. Ukraine is struggling to hold back Russian advances around the city of Kurakhove.

Kurakhove lies some 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Pokrovsk, a key logistical hub that has been in Russia’s crosshairs for many months. By late summer, Pokrovsk appeared almost certain to fall. Yet Kyiv’s forces have – for now – managed to repel Russia’s advances there, forcing Moscow to redraw its plans.

A thousand days into Europe’s most grueling war since the Nazis, the starting gun appears to have been fired for peace talks in Ukraine.

Friday’s unilateral move by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to call Russian President Vladimir Putin ended nearly two years of major NATO leaders isolating the Kremlin head.

It was bad news for Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a 72-hour period marked by the White House finally acceding to his request to be able to fire long-range American ATACMS weapons into Russia. Zelensky fumed that the call had opened “Pandora’s Box.” He said: “It is extremely important for (Putin) to weaken his isolation.”

Hours later, Zelensky seemed to acknowledge momentum toward talks, saying when US President-elect Donald Trump takes power “war will end sooner,” as this was the promise Trump had made to his voters.

Scholz said his call with Putin revealed the Russian leader’s hardline positions on Ukraine had not changed but added it was important for Europe to talk to Putin, if Trump was about to do the same.

The hour-long conversation marked the return of diplomacy to the decade-long conflict, even if their talk brought the familiar refrain it was not yet time to talk.

The call threw a wild card into a Western alliance experiencing anxiety over the outcome of the conflict in the light of Trump’s election, according to more than 10 interviews CNN carried out with current and former officials and diplomats over the past week.

Read the full story here.

A woman cries after her home was destroyed in a Russian missile attack in the Odesa region, Ukraine, on November 17.

At least eight people have been killed and 39 others injured after a Russian missile attack on the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa, officials said Monday.

Russia fired a ballistic missile at Odesa, hitting a parking lot and damaging a nearby university and residential building, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“These are not random strikes – they are demonstrative strikes,” Zelensky said on Telegram. “Russia is showing what it is really interested in: only war.”

Four children are among the injured and 30 adults have been hospitalized, with three in extremely serious condition, according to Oleh Kiper, head of the Odesa regional military administration.

“Our doctors are doing everything possible to save everyone’s life and health. Other victims were treated on the spot,” Kiper added.

Video shared on Telegram showed injured people lying on the street, smoke rising from near a high-rise apartment block and stores strewn with broken glass from shattered windows.

In one video, a man is seen sat on the floor with blood pooling near his leg, which is tied with a tourniquet. Next to him, a woman is wrapped in a blanket holding a towel to her bloodied face.

It is not clear how many ATACMS Kyiv has at its disposal. A spokesperson for Lockheed Martin, which manufactures the missiles, said last year that the company is producing approximately 500 of them per year.

Ukraine and its allies have repeatedly argued that being allowed to strike targets deep inside Russia will help it better defend itself.

In September, Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski told CNN “the victim of aggression has the right to defend itself also on the territory of the aggressor.”

He used the example of a Russian strike on the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, which wiped out an entire family, to demonstrate the importance of Ukraine being able to strike targets inside Russia instead of waiting for the threat to have entered Ukraine’s skies.

“The missile that killed that family was launched from a Russian bomber flying over Russian territory from a Russian airfield. Give me one reason why Ukraine should not be able to take out that bomber and take out that airfield,” Sikorski said.

The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank based in Washington DC, estimates that about 250 Russian military objects – including 17 air bases – are in the range of Ukrainian ATACMS.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock speaks to the media in Brussels, Belgium, on November 18.

Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, has praised US President Joe Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to strike targets deep inside Russia with American-made long-range missiles.

“Self-defense – the protection of our own people – does not mean that we have to wait until terror strikes, but that we can protect ourselves from it,” Baerbock said Monday.

“Putin is deliberately playing on our fear in Europe and we must make it clear that we are stronger than fear and that we have a European force for peace,” she said.

Baerbock’s comments come after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday spoke with Vladimir Putin on the phone, breaking a two-year European effort to isolate the Russian president.

Scholz held the call as Germany gears us for a snap election early next year. His decision was criticized as being motivated by domestic political concerns, and ran contrary to the European norm of “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.”

In a public rebuttal of Scholz’s decision, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the call is “exactly what Putin has been wanting for a long time: it is extremely important for him to weaken his isolation, Russia’s isolation, and to have normal negotiations that will not end in anything.”

While Scholz, the leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), has tried to position his party as for “peace,” Baerbock – a co-leader of the Green party – has consistently been more hawkish on Ukraine’s need to defend itself.

An ATACMS is loaded onto a HIMARS in Queensland, Australia, in July 2023.

For months, Kyiv has asked Washington for permission to use US-made Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, to strike targets deep inside Russia.

ATACMS are supersonic ballistic missiles with a range of up to 300 kilometers (186 miles). They can carry a warhead containing about 170 kilograms (375 lbs) of explosives.

They are manufactured by Lockheed Martin and are designed to be fired from a Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) or a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) – two other systems the United States has provided to Ukraine.

ATACMS can strike further into Russia than any other Ukrainian missile.

Ukraine also possesses the French-British-made Storm Shadow missile, which has a range of around 250 kilometers (155 miles), shy of the range of ATACMS.

The United Kingdom and France have also denied Ukraine permission to strike targets inside Russia, although they have been used to target Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014 and considers part of its territory.

It is not yet clear if US President Joe Biden’s green light will prompt the leaders of the UK and France to grant Ukraine the same permissions for the weapons they have supplied.