WASHINGTON, November 28. /TASS/. US President Joe Biden's decision on strikes with tactical ballistic missiles ATACMS from the Ukrainian territory deep into Russia will not provide Ukraine with any advantages in the conflict, but on the contrary will only harm it, says an opinion column in the US weekly Defense News.

"There should be no illusions that employing longer-range missiles or anti-personnel mines will be a panacea for Ukraine," the columnists say. According to their assessments, Biden's decision on "deeper Ukrainian strikes into the Russian interior" leads to a new round of escalation, which will merely weaken Ukraine's position both on the battlefield and in potential peace talks. The commentators point out that Russia's response demonstrated that Moscow possesses new weapons and may resort to their wider use in the future. "This would be devastating for Ukraine," the columnists predict.

The article reads that the US intelligence community warned of the risks associated with US missile strikes on Russian territory and suggested abandoning the decision.

"Moscow will now view the United States and Europe as direct combatants in the war and respond accordingly," the Defense News contributors say.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on November 21 that the United States and its NATO allies had earlier said they were authorizing the use of long-range high accuracy guided weapons, after which US and British missiles attacked Russian military facilities in the Kursk and Bryansk regions. Putin said that Russia responded to these attacks by using the newest non-nuclear Oreshnik medium-range ballistic missiles for the first time. They were launched at a facility of Ukraine's defense-industrial complex, the Yuzhmash plant in Dnepr (formerly Dnepropetrovsk). The Russian leader emphasized that the West’s provocative policies could have dire consequences for it in case of the conflict’s further escalation.