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KIEV.- Just a few days after the United States and other European allies granted Ukraine permission to fire weapons of its manufacture against Russian territory, kyiv attacked a military facility on the border with an American-made artillery system.
Yehor Chernev, vice-chairman of the committee on national security, defense and intelligence of the Ukrainian Parliamentdeclared on Tuesday that Ukrainian forces had destroyed Russian missile launchers with an attack in the Belgorod region, about 30 kilometers inside Russia. Ukrainian forces used a high mobility artillery rocket systemor Himars, said.
Was the first time a Ukrainian official publicly acknowledges that Ukraine used American weapons to fire on Russia since the president Joe Biden lifted the ban on such attacks to defend the region from Kharkov, under constant Russian siege. For months, the ban had remained a “red line” that the Biden administration would not cross due to concerns about rising tensions with a nuclear-armed nation.
The Ukrainian military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
By granting permission last week, The United States imposed limitations, emphasizing that the weapons could only be used in Russian territory near northeastern Ukraine and for defensive purposes. Chernev, in text messages, said that Ukraine destroyed S-300 and S-400 missile systems, without specifying how many. Russia has used these systems, initially designed to shoot down aircraft, to bomb the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, located just 70 kilometers from Belgorod.
The Himars that Ukraine used is an American-made long-range rocket system capable of firing from beyond the range of most of Ukraine’s non-Western weaponry.
Chernev’s account of the attack could not be independently confirmed. But on Monday they appeared videos of the aftermath of the attack against the S-300 and S-400 systems. Satellite images and social media posts suggest multiple attacks occurred on Russian territory over the weekend.
Chernev, a former member of the Ukrainian Army, is also the head of the Ukrainian delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. a role that saw him participate in discussions with Western partners over the supply and use of Western weapons.
A video from a Russian Telegram channel showed burning Russian military hardware and gray smoke following an attack on Sunday. The video, which was verified by The New York Timeswas recorded on the outskirts of Belgorod, and satellite images captured at this location by Planet Labs show smoke billowing from what appear to be destroyed vehicles. At least one of the throwers was in an elevated position at the time of the attack.
Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and an expert on the Russian military and modern warfare, said: The range and precision of the attack against the missile launch systems suggested that the weapon used was American.
“Given the range, target type, ammunition availability, and change in Biden administration policy,” he wrote in a message. “I think it is likely that this attack was carried out with Himars”.
Russian bloggers, researchers analyzing satellite images and battlefield footage, and the Russian Defense Ministry reported multiple cases of attacks inside Russia with US rockets since Thursday, when the Biden administration approved its use.
On Saturday, Evgeny Poddubny, a war correspondent for Russian state television, shared photos of what were presented as US guided rocket fragments found on Russian territory. It was not possible to independently verify when or where the fragments were found.
Military analysts had been keeping an eye on when and how Ukraine would use American weapons on Russian territory.
For weeks, Ukraine vigorously lobbied its Western allies to allow it to use its weapons to attack inside Russia.. The government claimed that Russian troops were massing on the border and preparing attacks on Ukraine with impunity, citing the urgency to be able to hit planes that launch so-called gliding bombs from inside Russian territory that fly to targets in Ukraineas well as hitting military bases, command points and ammunition depots in Russia.
“We take advantage of every meeting and every day to give more possibilities to our warriors,” the president of Ukraine wrote on Telegram on Tuesday, Volodymyr Zelensky. “I am grateful to all the partners who are helping in the way we need and on time,” she added.
Military analysts say the Ukrainians’ new ability to strike in Russia will help deter Moscow’s attacks across the border.
“Now we can hit the Russian troops in formation, which reduces the likelihood that they will prepare new offensives” at other points along the border, said Mykhailo Samus, director of the Center for Army, Conversion and Disarmament Studies, a military research organization in kyiv.
Russia repeatedly warned Ukraine’s Western allies that allowing attacks inside Russia would carry serious consequences. “We would like to warn US officials against miscalculations that can have fatal consequences”Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Monday, according to the Interfax news agency. “For some unclear reasons, they underestimate the severity of the response they can get”.
Russia did not specify what those consequences would be, although its president, Vladimir Putinlast week launched a veiled threat against small European countries, pointing out that they are “very densely populated.”
Chernev’s confirmation that US weapons had been used to attack inside Russia is the only one Ukraine has given so far, perhaps for fear of adding fuel to the fire of Russian propaganda and further fueling Russia’s bellicosity. Ukraine is also preparing for a diplomatic peace initiative in Swiss this month to present your war resolution plan.
The information was also published on the Facebook account of the Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Reintegration of the Occupied Territories, Irina Vershchuk, who did not specify the type of weapons used in the attack, but rather spoke generically about western weapons.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the United States will not reconsider its policy of prohibiting deeper strikes in Russia in the coming weeks. The administration also banned Ukraine from firing a rocket with greater range and power, the Atacms, against Russia. Ukrainian authorities are pushing for expanded permits to fire on Russia.
“All Russian troops in the border region must be destroyed, so as not to allow them to cross” the border, Samus said, noting that public disclosure of exactly how the weapons are used is unlikely. “There are official positions of Ukraine and the United States. Everything else is the fog of war.”he concluded.
Maria Varenikova, Constant Méheut and Aric Toler
The New York Times
The New York Times
