Serhii Zghurets, the chief editor of Defense Express, says Ukraine’s allies could have provided hundreds of long-range missiles, including American ATACMS missiles, according to Espreso.
Despite Ukraine’s months-long appeals amid Russian air attacks and offensives in Donetsk and Kharkiv oblasts, Western nations continued to restrict the use of their long-range weapons like ATACMS. Ukraine needed permission to strike inside Russia, but the Western leaders refused, reportedly to avoid further escalation. On 17 November, US officials said that US President Joe Biden had given the green light for Ukraine to use long-range missiles.
Zghurets says that the total number of ATACMS and SCALP/Storm Shadow missiles delivered could be equal to the number of targets within 300 km of Russian territory, adding that the US currently has around 2,500 ATACMS missiles.
The analyst noted that, according to the Institute for the Study of War, Ukraine could hit 250 different key military targets within 300 kilometers of Russian territory with long-range weapons.
“The use of such missiles should not become a broad-front operation but involve clearly planned strikes aimed at gaining advantages in specific areas of the front,” he said.
In October 2023, Western media reported that the US had secretly delivered ATACMS missiles to Ukraine. Later, the information was confirmed that Ukraine had indeed received the missiles but was not allowed to strike deep within Russian territory.
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- Canada pushes allies to approve Ukraine’s long-range strikes on Russia with Western weapons
- Reuters: Putin again threatens “range of responses” if deep Russia strikes allowed