Satellite images have shown that hundreds of Russian facilities are in range of Ukraine‘s tactical missile systems provided by the US, according to a Washington-based think tank.
Kyiv was provided with several assignments of ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems) earlier this year, with a provison that they could only be used in mainland Ukraine and annexed Crimea, but not in Russia.
It comes after a senior national security official in the Joe Biden administration warned strikes with the long-range balistic missiles against targets in Russia wouldn’t be effective as Putin’s forces have redeployed their military aircraft from air bases near Ukraine.
But in the Institute for the Institute for Study of War’s assessment of Russia‘s offensive on Saturday, its researchers challenged the claim, sharing satellite images and maps showing 250 targets remain in range of the surface-to-surface rockets.
Potential targets in the images include communication stations, large military bases, fuel depots, logistics centers, repair facilities, fuel depots, permanent headquarters, and ammunition warehouses, Newsweek reports.
The think tank said it would be “extremely difficult or impossible” for Russia to “quickly redeploy assets” from these locations.
“Only 17 of these 250 objects are airfields, and it is unlikely that the Russian military has redeployed assets away from all the other 233 objects to the same degree as it has reportedly done with aviation assets,” the ISW wrote in the update.
“Ukrainian forces do not have to strike every single Russian military and paramilitary object in Russia within range of Western-provided weapons to start generating significant operational pressures on the Russian military,” they added.
The US does permit Ukraine to launch HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems) at targets in Russia, but not the longer-range ATACMS. The researchers said only 20 of the 250 potential targets are within range of HIMARS.
“US officials’ comments centered on Russia‘s redeployment of air assets have so far largely ignored the majority of targets in range of ATACMS that Ukrainian forces could strike if US prohibitions were lifted,” the think tank claimed.
Express.co.uk has approached the US Department of Defense for comment via email.
Meanwhile, Ukraine says it has a new long-range weapon to strike deep into Russia without asking permission from allies – a homegrown combination of missile and drone that the defense minister vowed Monday would provide “answers” to a wave of Russian bombings.
The ‘Palianytsia’ was created due to urgent necessity, according to Ukrainian officials, because Russia has dominated the skies since the outbreak of the war in February 2022 and Ukraine’s Western allies have placed conditions on the use of their long-range missiles in Russia, AP reports.
On Saturday, President Zelensky confirmed the existence of the rocket which is named after a type of Ukrainian bread. According to the news agency, it is a word so notoriously difficult to pronounce correctly that it was used to unmask suspected spies early in the war. Mr Zelensky called it “a new class” of weapon.