Russia says U.S. ‘adding fuel to the fire’ by letting Ukraine use ATACMS

Russian officials on Monday furiously condemned President Joe Biden’s decision to permit Ukraine to use American longer-range missiles for limited strikes inside Russia, even as Russian missiles killed at least 19 people inside Ukraine in a pair of attacks.

Though Russian President Vladimir Putin himself has yet to respond to another crossing of his “red lines” by the West, his spokesman said the move added “fuel to the fire” and tensions to the relationship.

“This is a qualitatively new round of tension and a qualitatively new situation in terms of U.S. involvement in this conflict,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists in a Monday briefing. “It’s clear that the outgoing administration in Washington intends to take steps to, they’ve said so, to continue to add fuel to the fire and to further provoke the level of tension.”

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