ALERT: An extremely dangerous new step in the U.S.-Russia proxy war in Ukraine, a step with potentially catastrophic consequences, is being seriously considered by the U.S. and its NATO allies: allowing Ukraine to use NATO weapons to strike targets deep inside Russia for the first time.

In the past the U.S. has been wary doing so for fear of sparking a wider war, possibly directly between the U.S. and Russia, which could damage their interests. But the cold-blooded imperialist calculations of the U.S. rulers may be shifting.

In recent weeks, the U.S. and NATO have apparently been giving serious consideration to authorizing Ukraine to use British and French long-range missiles to attack deep inside Russia. This was reported as being a focus of the September 13 meeting between President Biden and Britain’s Prime Minister Starmer. The New York Times reports that this step “could be far more consequential” than previous U.S.-NATO moves to provide Ukraine with more and more deadly weapons. 

This would constitute the most direct U.S.-NATO intervention in this bloody two and-a-half-year war, and a dramatic escalation—an escalation with unpredictable and potentially deadly consequences for millions, perhaps billions of people. 

Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin immediately warned that such a step “will mean that NATO countries—the United States and European countries—are at war with Russia…. And if this is the case, then, bearing in mind the change in the essence of the conflict, we will make appropriate decisions in response to the threats that will be posed to us.” 

This is a very ominous declaration from Putin who has repeatedly threatened that Russia would use nuclear weapons if it felt its strategic interests or existence were fundamentally threatened. 

Compounding all this, on September 15, the Guardian and other British news outlets reported that “Britain and the US have raised fears that Russia has shared nuclear secrets with Iran in return for Tehran supplying Moscow with ballistic missiles to bomb Ukraine.” If that story is true, it adds to the pressure in the situation; if it is not, it could indicate forces within Britain and/or the U.S. attempting to add to the pressure. 

Ukraine: NOT a Just War to Defend Ukraine and “Democracy”—a Reactionary Proxy War Between Rival Imperialist Powers

Biden and the U.S. imperialists portray the slaughter in Ukraine as a just war in defense of Ukrainian sovereignty and the front lines of a battle between western democracy and Russian “autocracy.” This was a major theme of Kamala Harris in her recent debate with Trump.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was indeed an act of brutal imperialist aggression. But the U.S. imperialists didn’t respond by fighting for the interests of the people of Ukraine and the world. They responded the only way they could—in line with defending the imperial interests of their system, interests which dictated that it not allow its Russian rival to advance its domination. Instead, they seized on the invasion to try to deal their Russian imperialist rivals a massive defeat. In fact, the U.S. has been using the people of Ukraine as cannon fodder in this proxy war, a war that has already led to estimates of between 600,000 and 800,000 killed or wounded soldiers on both sides and more than 35,000 civilians either killed or wounded in Ukraine. ¹

The U.S. is determined to deal Russia a military defeat and a serious blow to its global influence and ambitions. Both the U.S. and Russia have made clear that they cannot allow the other to prevail. At the same time, they have both maneuvered to avoid an all-out war. 

Yet developments on the ground have forced each to steadily escalate the war in the face of difficulties. Throughout the war Biden has provided Ukraine with more and more deadly weapons after first hesitating: HIMARS artillery, then M1 Abrams tanks, then F-16 fighters and short- and long-range ATACMS missiles. 

Now in recent months Russia has seized more territory in eastern Ukraine, which is reportedly running low on troops and munitions. Meanwhile Ukraine launched a surprise attack and seized a small area of Russian territory. Britain’s prime minister called the next weeks and months “crucial” for the U.S.-NATO war in Ukraine. 

A direct military confrontation between the U.S. and Russia holds the extreme danger of the conflict spiraling out into a nuclear conflict.

In the past U.S.-NATO provided weapons that had been used inside Russia, but only close to Ukraine’s borders. Now Biden is on the verge of authorizing the use of weapons that can strike deep inside Russia. 

U.S. officials and military “experts” have been pooh-poohing the danger that Russia would seriously escalate or resort to nuclear weapons. They claim Putin is bluffing. This is irresponsible, criminal speculation by war criminals who are again gambling with the lives of hundreds of millions, perhaps billions of people for their own predatory imperialist aims and objectives. ²

All this underscores the urgency and immediacy of the revolutionary leader Bob Avakian’s declaration that: 

We, the people of the world, can no longer afford to allow these imperialists to continue to dominate the world and determine the destiny of humanity. They need to be overthrown as quickly as possible. And it is a scientific fact that we do not have to live this way.