President Vladimir Putin has updated Russia’s nuclear doctrine days after President Joe Biden gave Ukraine the approval to use U.S.-provided weapons to hit targets deep into Russian territory.
A key component of Russia’s revised nuclear doctrine, which Putin approved on Tuesday, is that the country would view an act of aggression against Russia or its allies from a non-nuclear state, but with the support of a nuclear country, as a joint attack against themselves.
The change comes as Russia said Ukraine fired six U.S.-provided long-range missiles (known as ATACMS) into the region of Bryansk, which, if accurate, would be the first time the country has carried out such an attack with U.S.-provided weapons. Russia’s Ministry of Defense said five of the missiles were shot down and that the sixth was damaged en route to its target.
Fragments of the missiles hit an unspecified military facility and sparked a fire, though it did not inflict any damage or casualties, according to the Russian ministry.
Ukraine said it hit a military weapons depot overnight.
Biden reportedly lifted the restrictions on how Ukraine used the ATACMS recently, but the administration has not announced it to the public. Pentagon deputy spokeswoman Sabrina Singh repeatedly declined to confirm the reports on Monday while talking to reporters, and Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, declined to do so as well.
Zelensky had asked for the loosening of these restrictions for several months, but the U.S. had previously denied the request.
Despite their refusal to confirm the reporting, both argued that such a decision would not be an escalation. Rather, it would be a response to North Korea providing its own troops to Russia so they can fight on Russia’s behalf.
“One thing I would point out, though, for context is that Russia has just engaged in a massive escalation in this war,” he said on PBS. “They have brought in a foreign army, North Korea, North Korean troops, to the front lines of the battle, and that represents a sea change in the nature of this conflict.”
The Pentagon assesses that more than 10,000 North Korean troops are now in Russia — specifically, the Kursk region, which is where Ukraine launched a surprise offensive several months ago and continues to hold Russian territory.
Russia’s new nuclear doctrine states that Moscow reserves the right to conduct a nuclear attack in response to a non-nuclear attack that threatens its sovereignty or territory.
This week marks the 1,000th day of the war, which began in February 2022. Several times since then, the U.S. has been hesitant to meet some of Ukraine’s more significant military requests due to concerns over how Russia would react, and for their part, Russian officials have threatened further military action if provoked. Russian officials have also warned several times they could use tactical nuclear weapons in furtherance of their objectives in the war to deter Western countries from aiding Ukraine.
“Look, any type of nuclear saber-rattling is incredibly dangerous,” Singh said. “It’s reckless. It’s something that we’re going to continue to monitor, but we haven’t seen any changes to their posture.”
There were some U.S. lawmakers critical of Biden’s decision to loosen the restrictions on Ukraine, arguing that it threatens to further escalate the conflict, while there were others who support his decision but wish he would’ve made it sooner.
Biden has been a crucial ally for Ukraine over the course of the war, though the end of his administration could ultimately prove to be the spigot turning off with the Trump administration coming in.
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The Trump transition team has said it wants to see an end to the conflict, and the president-elect has said he would end the war in one day, though it’s unclear what concessions Ukraine would have to agree to give up to get a deal done.
“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,” Steven Cheung, Trump’s communications director, told the Washington Examiner.