The White House refuses for months to grant a weapons request from Ukraine, fearing it would be escalatory. Kyiv loudly decries the refusal, and just when the request seems to have been parked, the Biden administration approves it.

The Kremlin has accused United States President Joe Biden of escalating the war in Ukraine by allowing Kyiv to use long-range missiles supplied by Washington to strike targets inside Russia. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday said any US decision to allow Ukraine to fire American missiles deep into Russia would mean the US was directly involved in the conflict.