"I have been told that the strategic implications of the president's escalation — both [US President Joe] Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin have nuclear bombs at their fingertips — had not been fully analyzed inside the Pentagon, and that some important offices, sure to have different views about escalation, were never asked for their input. Putin responded by escalating in turn by firing a nuclear-capable ballistic missile at Ukraine and said in a speech that what had been a regional conflict 'had now acquired elements of a global character,'" Hersh wrote on his Substack blog.
According to Hersh, the agenda of US President-elect Donald Trump is to put an end to the military conflict in Ukraine and possibly to start the process by working more with military-to-military negotiations.
"There was no way Joe Biden was going to get it done without much more blood being shed," Hersh added.
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised speech that Ukraine had fired US-supplied ATACMS missiles and the UK's Storm Shadows at facilities in the Kursk and Bryansk regions. In response, Russia launched a strike against a defense industry facility, the Yuzhmash plant, in Dnepropetrovsk (Dnipro) on November 21, using its newest medium-range missile, dubbed Oreshnik. Moscow also updated its nuclear doctrine earlier in the week.
On November 25, White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby confirmed that Ukraine was allowed to use US-made ATACMS ballistic missiles to fire at targets in the western Russian region of Kursk.