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Russian officials say Biden decision to let Ukraine fire missiles deep into Russia could lead to world war
President Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to fire U.S.-made and supplied missiles deeper into Russia — a major policy shift announced over the weekend after months of intense lobbying by Kyiv — has drawn a furious response from Moscow. While there was no immediate reaction directly from the man who launched the nearly three-year war on his neighboring nation, lawmakers aligned with President Vladimir Putin in Russia said Monday that the move was unacceptable and warned it could lead to a third world war.
Mr. Biden authorized Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to use American-made missiles with a range of almost 200 miles, known as ATACMS, to strike deeper inside Russian territory than the Ukrainians have to date.
So far, Ukraine’s attacks beyond the immediate border region inside Russia have been limited to non-U.S. — and much less potent— weapons such as explosive drones. ATACMS are far more destructive and harder to shoot down as they head for their programmed targets.
Attila Husejnow/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty
Zelenskyy’s government had been pushing Washington for permission to use the missiles for long-range attacks for some time but the Biden administration had been reluctant given concerns about potentially escalating the war.
Over the weekend, however, the calculus apparently changed. The decision came almost 1,000 days into the full-scale war in Ukraine, and with Mr. Biden about two months away from handing over the White House keys to President-elect Trump, who’s seen as far less supportive of Ukraine’s ambitions of hanging onto all of its Russian-occupied territory.
It also came as Russia hit Ukraine with a devastating missile attack, highlighting Ukraine’s desperate desire for the ability to target Russian weapons systems deeper inside the country before they’re launched, which Zelenskyy has stressed for more than a year.
Many of the Russian rockets launched Sunday targeted energy infrastructure but a ballistic missile carrying cluster munitions also struck a residential part of the northern city of Sumy, killing 11 people, including two children, and leaving more than 80 others wounded. Fresh strikes hit apartment buildings in the southern city of Odesa on Monday, killing at least eight people including a child, regional authorities said.
Residents in Sumy were targeted as they slept, and Ukrainian officials called the Sunday missile and drone salvo one of the largest Russian attacks since the start of the war.
With the change in policy from the outgoing administration in Washington, Ukrainian forces will be able to retaliate harder, reaching further into Russia than ever before. Ukrainian forces have launched drone attacks into Russian territory, including targeting Moscow, for months, but with limited effect.
Zelenskyy welcomed the change in U.S. policy, saying “strikes are not made with words… The missiles will speak for themselves.”
But Ukraine’s war-time leader also appeared to acknowledge the change in tack in Washington that Trump’s second swearing-in will bring, with a far greater emphasis expected on striking a negotiated truce than on defending Ukraine’s sovereign territory from unilateral annexation by Russia.
“It is certain that the war will end sooner with the policies of the team that will now lead the White House. This is their approach, their promise to their citizens,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with a Ukrainian news outlet, adding that Ukraine “must do everything so that this war ends next year, ends through diplomatic means.”
In Moscow, meanwhile, senior lawmaker Leonid Slutsky slammed Mr. Biden, accusing him of deciding “to end his presidential term and go down in history as ‘Bloody Joe’.”
Senator Vladimir Dzhabarov, meanwhile, told Russia’s state-run Tass news agency that Biden’s decision represented “a very big step toward the beginning of the third world war.”
The official newspaper of the Russian state, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, warned “the madmen who are drawing NATO into a direct conflict with our country may soon be in great pain.”
Putin had personally warned against the eventuality previously, issuing a warning in September that U.S. permission for Ukraine to fire American-supplied long-range missiles at his country, “would mean that NATO countries, the United States, and European countries, are parties to the war in Ukraine.”
But Putin himself has dramatically raised the stakes in the war since then, by overseeing the deployment of at least 11,000 North Korean troops to fight alongside Russian forces. They’ve joined the battle in Russia’s western Kursk region, a significant portion of which Ukrainian troops occupied earlier this year in a surprise offensive.
The parameters of the permission granted to Ukraine for the use of the ATACMS haven’t been confirmed, but according to reports, they include — and may be limited to — Ukraine using the missiles to attack Russian defensive positions in Kursk.
James Nixey, who heads the Russia and Eurasia program at the London-based Chatham House think tank, said in an analysis Monday that the change in policy from Washington was “not a game changer,” especially if it included a limitation on where Ukraine can use the ATACMS.
“The relaxation of range limits for Ukraine’s usage of US ATACMS follows the overall pattern of America’s approach to this war: to make sure Ukraine cannot inflict significant damage on Russia… but to allow small increases in hardware provision and their usage over extended periods of time,” he said. “If it is true that the authorization for usage extends only to the Kursk region (and is therefore primarily directed at North Korean troops); then, again, this fits the pattern, and means the overall effects on the war will be negligible.”
From McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburger outbreak last month to a current recall of organic carrots sold at grocery stores across the country, E. coli outbreaks are making headlines — and prompting questions about how to stay safe from the bacteria that can cause sickness.
The carrot recall was issued by California grower Grimmway Farms on Saturday after nearly 40 cases were recorded in 18 states. At least 15 people were hospitalized and one person has died, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
The McDonald’s outbreak has killed one person in Colorado and affected at least 104 people across 14 states, according to the CDC.
Does cooking kill E. coli?
To kill E. coli present on carrots, you need to cook them to an internal temperature of at least 165°F, according to Dr. Céline Gounder, a CBS News medical contributor and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health New. The same is true for killing E. coli in meat.
“You can use a food thermometer to confirm that this temperature was reached. So long as the food reaches this temperature, you can feel safe that E. coli bacteria have been eliminated,” she said. “Also note that some strains of E. coli are heat-resistant and can survive cooking temperatures as high as 160°F.”
If you have any recalled carrots in your home, the CDC recommends throwing them out or returning them to the store.
“Do not eat any recalled bagged organic carrots. Check your refrigerators or freezers for recalled carrots and throw them away,” the agency notes. “Wash items and surfaces that may have touched the recalled organic carrots using hot soapy water or a dishwasher.”
Family physician Dr. Beth Oller agrees it’s not worth the risk.
“If you have any of (the impacted produce), do not even risk it,” she told CBS News. “You know that this bacteria is on there, get rid of it. Get rid of anything that it has touched.”
How does E. coli get on vegetables?
There are several ways an E. coli contamination can occur, Gounder recently explained.
In meat, contamination can come from the bacteria that are in the intestines.
“E. coli reside in the intestine, so that’s one way in which you can have that contamination occur,” she said. “But also people who have not perhaps washed their hands properly (or) the facility.”
Infection can happen through contaminated food or water or contact with animals, environments or other people, the CDC’s website notes.
The best way to prevent infection is by keeping your hands clean, preparing food safely and drinking safe water, the agency adds.
Does washing vegetables kill E. coli?
While washing vegetables can help remove dirt, pesticides and some bacteria on the surface, it isn’t enough to kill all E. coli on foods, Gounder said.
“No matter how well you wash, it’s not going to kill it,” Oller said.
Does freezing kill E. coli?
While freezing foods can slow the growth of bacteria, it doesn’t kill E. coli.
“Freezing vegetables does not kill E. coli bacteria,” Gounder said. “Freezing pauses bacterial growth, but once food is thawed, E. coli can grow and multiply again.”
So while you may think there’s “no way something can survive being frozen,” Oller said, that’s “not true with E. coli.”
Why are there so many E. coli outbreaks?
After the outbreak linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders, Gounder said this is the result of a highly industrialized processed food supply.
“(This) means that your food is getting processed at different places at different points in time, each of which creates an opportunity for the introduction of some contaminant, whether that’s E. coli or listeria or something else,” she said. “All of these recent food contamination events are a signal to us that we do need to be paying a bit more attention to testing in some of these facilities.”
Oller pointed to more potential factors: growing antimicrobial resistance, which makes bacteria hardier, and large-scale food production and distribution, which allows outbreaks to spread further.
“Because that’s the world we live in now, it spreads throughout a country, instead of it just being a localized (issue),” she said.
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A skydiver was found dead in northwestern Louisiana over the weekend after his parachute failed to deploy, authorities said. He was briefly reported missing in the wake of the jump.
The Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office identified the skydiver as an Asian male but did not share his name. On Saturday afternoon, the office said a search was underway for a skydiver last seen in the Gilliam area, which is about 25 miles north of Shreveport. The sheriff had received a report just before 1:30 p.m. local time from Gilliam Airport that notified them he was missing.
Deputies learned the skydiver’s parachute did not deploy when they arrived at the airfield, according to the sheriff. Multiple agencies began to search for the man, including an air rescue team and units from the North Caddo Medical Center, Caddo Fire District and the Wildlife and Fisheries Department, along with the Caddo Sheriff’s Office.
The missing skydiver was found dead about two hours later, the sheriff said, noting that searchers discovered his body a couple of miles from his intended landing spot. Authorities are investigating the incident.
Skydiving accidents are rare. The United States Parachute Association reported 10 fatalities during skydives in 2023, out of 3.65 million jumps recorded throughout the year. While experts recognize the sport can be dangerous, the USPA has said most accidents occur as a result of human error, not equipment failure.
“Many of the accidents occur because the jumper—oftentimes an experienced skydiver who is pushing the limits— makes an error in judgment while landing a perfectly functioning parachute,” the USPA writes on its website, likening skydiving incidents to automobile accidents that “are not usually the result of equipment failure, but rather operator mistakes.”
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