On the thousandth day of fighting between Russia and Ukraine, a major new development.

Long-range ATACMS missiles fired by Ukraine at Russia for the first time ever.

“It’s a very risky attempt to continue escalation,” said Katalin Fabian, a professor of government and law at Lafayette College.

Risky, as it could potentially lead to a major response from Russia.

“Strategic nuclear weapons, a possibility that was indeed one of the red lines that Putin has been using for over a year to scare and repel NATO,” Fabian said.

But Fabian believes President Biden is taking this risk because President-elect Trump could push Ukraine to negotiate a ceasefire, and more weapons would give them a stronger negotiating position.

“I think I will be able to reach an agreement fairly quickly between President Putin and President Zelensky,” Trump said during his presidential campaign.

“I interpret, based on this decision by President Biden, that this is a tactical decision aimed at bringing Ukraine to a better situation,” Fabian said.

But not all Republicans agree with Trump. Instead of criticizing Biden for not pushing Ukraine to negotiate, Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that Biden had not been aggressive enough.

“It is too early to tell the extent to which the Biden administration’s unnecessary delays have allowed Russia to move the weapons it uses to strike Ukrainian cities out of the range of ATACMS,” said Senator McConnell .

But Fabian said even if a ceasefire deal was reached, ceding territory to Russia, it would not mean an end to the fighting.

“There will be terrorism, there will be sabotage, because people want to recover their territory and what they consider their land,” Fabian said.

The Russian Defense Ministry has claimed to be able to shoot down most of the missiles fired by Ukraine. In his endorsement, President Biden said Ukraine should only target military installations with U.S. weapons.