Russia says the United States is fueling the conflict by allowing Ukraine to use its missiles.

The Kremlin on Monday accused US President Joe Biden of fueling the war in Ukraine by allowing kyiv to use long-range missiles supplied by Washington to attack targets in Russia.

Moscow's comments coincided with Ukraine's announcement that a new Russian attack on the Black Sea port city of Odessa killed 8 people and injured 18 others on Monday, following an attack massive weekend attack against the country's energy infrastructure.

In a strategic shift weeks before Donald Trump's inauguration, a senior U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity said Sunday that Washington had authorized Ukraine to attack Russia with its long-range missiles.

With this decision, the United States is adding fuel to the fire, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov warned on Monday.

If officially confirmed, this authorization would result in a fundamentally new situation regarding the involvement of the United States in this conflict, he stressed.

The United States has given the green light to the use of long-range missiles, a senior American official told AFP on Sunday, confirming reports from the New York Times and the Washington Post according to which this measure had been adopted in response to North Korean missile deployment. troops to help Moscow.

According to kyiv, some 11,000 North Korean troops are already deployed in Russia and have started fighting in Russia's Kursk region, partially controlled by Ukrainian troops.

Democrat Biden thus accedes to kyiv's request shortly before leaving the White House and the return of Republican Trump, very critical of American aid to Ukraine.

kyiv has long requested permission to use long-range Western weapons to attack the bases from which Russia launches its bombings and counter the advance of Russian troops in the east.

Until now, NATO countries have been reluctant, fearing an escalation.

But on Monday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot reaffirmed in Brussels that his government was not ruling out using its long-range missiles.

We said that it was an option that we would consider if it allowed attacks against targets from which Russia attacks Ukrainian territory, he assured upon his arrival at the meeting of foreign ministers of the EU.

And former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked Paris and London on Monday to authorize Ukraine to use these strategic weapons as the United States did.

This should have been done 18 months ago, Johnson said of Washington's strategic shift on France Inter radio.

– China calls for peace in Ukraine –

China, which presents itself as a neutral party in the war between Russia and Ukraine despite being a close political and economic ally of Moscow, responded Monday by calling for a rapid ceasefire and a political solution.

The most urgent thing is to promote calming the situation as quickly as possible, said Lin Jian, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The Ukrainian President himself, Volodymyr Zelensky, cautiously welcomed the American official's announcement on Sunday evening.

Today, many media outlets are reporting that we have received authorization to take appropriate action, he said. But attacks are not made with words. These things are not announced, he said, adding that the missiles will speak for themselves.

These missiles, with a range of several hundred kilometers, would allow Ukraine to attack the Russian army's logistics centers and the airfields from which its bombers take off.

The US-supplied ATACMS missiles are initially expected to be used in the Russian border region of Kursk, where North Korean soldiers have been deployed to support Russian troops, according to the New York Times.

This decision comes a few hours after a massive Russian bombing of Ukrainian energy infrastructure, which left at least 11 dead and forced the country to announce power cuts on Monday as the feared winter approaches in these regions of Europe.

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