• According to the New York Times of November 17, U.S. President Joe Biden has finally authorized the Pentagon to provide satellite data to Ukraine so that it can use U.S. ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) missiles against North Korean forces in Kursk (Russia).

The United Kingdom immediately aligned itself with the United States for the use of its Storm Shadow missiles. France, however, seems not to have done so for its SCALP missiles.

☞ ATACMS missiles can be fired from HIMARS mobile launchers. The latest models have a range of 300 kilometers and reach an altitude of 50,000 meters. The latest versions of the Storm Shadow/SCALP missiles, on the other hand, have a range of about 400 kilometers.

☞ Guiding missiles to internationally recognized Russian territory (and no longer to the territories that recently joined Russia) is an act of war. The United States is therefore engaging in a confrontation without knowing how Russia will respond. Russian military doctrine provides for a response to this type of attack, but Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested another type of response, this time non-nuclear: supporting the aggressor’s opponents in other theatres of operation. This is what was done on 15 September with the bombing of an oil pipeline by Ansar Allah in Israel in retaliation for the bombing of a gas pipeline by Ukraine in Russia (cf. VIN 1927).

• Ukraine fired ATACMS missiles at Russian territory and the next day Storm Shadow missiles. In response, Russia promulgated its new nuclear doctrine and fired, for the first time on a battlefield, an RS-26 Rubezh ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear payload.

This is the editorial from our paywalled “Voltaire, international newsletter”, n°109. For more information, do not hesitate to subscribe: 500€ per year.