2024-08-28 08:17:26
The pressure on the Ukrainian Eastern Front is increasing: In order to force the Kremlin to negotiate, Ukraine now wants to fire missiles as far as Moscow.
Ukraine is apparently asking the West for permission to attack Russia with long-range missiles deep inside the country. It is assumed that this will force Russia to the negotiating table. High-ranking Ukrainian military officials say that a “demonstration attack” is intended to show the Kremlin that military sites near the capital could also be vulnerable to direct attacks. This is reported by the British newspaper “The Guardian”.
The strategy is controversial, however. Ukraine has been lobbying for months to be allowed to use the long-range missiles against targets in Russia – so far without success. However, given the increasing pressure on the Ukrainian eastern front, there is a growing belief that the best hope lies in a massive counterattack, according to The Guardian.
Russia will only consider negotiations if it believes Ukraine is capable of “threatening Moscow and St. Petersburg,” a senior Kiev government official told the British newspaper.
On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a speech marking the country’s Independence Day that Kyiv had no choice but to respond to Russia’s large-scale invasion, which began “913 days ago” in February 2022. “Our enemy will also know what Ukrainian retaliation means: decent, symmetrical and far-reaching,” the president continued. The Kremlin would reconsider further attacks if it knew that Ukraine could also strike inside the country, Zelensky explained.
Meanwhile, Kiev and other major Ukrainian cities are regularly attacked by Russia. According to the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian military, Oleksandr Syrskyi, Moscow has attacked Ukraine with 9,590 missiles and 13,997 drones since the beginning of the year, hitting 6,203 civilian and 5,676 military targets.
The Storm Shadow missiles to be used in the attacks were developed mainly in British-French cooperation and manufactured by the European joint venture MBDA, the report added. Since some components are supplied by the US, the White House must also approve their use in Russia. It has so far refused to do so for fear of an escalation of the conflict.
Ukraine, on the other hand, is apparently still pushing for approval. The consequences of the Ukrainian invasion of Russia show that the Kremlin’s warnings about red lines are exaggerated, said Zelensky. Moscow has largely played down the attack: In Russia, the reaction is simply described as an “anti-terrorist operation,” said the Ukrainian president.
However, the US does not believe that the Storm Shadow missiles and other long-range missiles have the range and precision needed to reach Moscow, reports The Guardian.
Despite Ukraine’s advance onto Russian soil, the army is also struggling with losses on its own territory. The region near Pokrovsk in Donbass is currently under particular threat, with the Russian invaders now within eleven kilometers of the city. The city is an important road and rail junction.