Biden approves Ukraine's use of long-range U.S. weapons inside Russia, reversing policy

President Joe Biden has authorized Ukraine to use a powerful American long-range weapon for limited strikes inside Russia in response to North Korea's deployment of thousands of troops to aid Moscow's war effort, according to two senior U.S. officials.

The easing of restrictions on allowing Kyiv to use the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, to hit targets inside Russia is a significant reversal in U.S. policy and comes as some 10,000 elite North Korean troops have been sent to Kursk, a region of Russia along Ukraine's northern border, to help Moscow's forces retake territory gained by Ukraine.

The Biden administration fears that more North Korean special forces units could follow in support of this effort.

The move precedes by two months the return to the White House of President-elect Donald Trump, who has signaled he intends to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, though without offering details of how he will do so.

One U.S. official said the move is in part aimed at deterring Pyongyang from sending more troops. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un must understand that the initial deployment has been a "costly" mistake, said the official, who like others interviewed for this story spoke on condition of anonymity because of the matter's sensitivity.

This is a good and dramaphilic move by Biden: Let Ukraine go hog wild for the next few months and Putin can't really do shit but hold on and wait for Trump's turn.