Ukraine claims it struck missile system on Russian territory using Western weapons

Ukrainian forces claimed on Monday that they had successfully struck a Russian S-300 missile system using Western-supplied weapons inside Russian territory.

“It burns beautifully. It's a Russian S-300. On Russian territory. The first days after permission to use Western weapons on enemy territory,” Ukrainian Minister Iryna Vereshchuk posted on Facebook alongside a photo purporting to show the strike.

This comes just days after US President Joe Biden authorized Ukraine to carry out limited strikes using US weapons on Russian territory around Kharkiv, after several European countries lifted restrictions on the use of these weapons.

It is unclear whether the weapons used in the strike described by Vereshchuk were supplied by the United States.

Ukraine had been begging Washington for months to allow it to strike targets on Russian soil with American weapons, as Moscow launched a brutal air and ground attack on Kharkiv, knowing that its troops could withdraw to Russian soil to regroup and collect their weapons. the depots could not be targeted by Western weapons.

The authorization granted by the United States was both revolutionary and bold, but provisional and highly conditional. Ukraine can only hit targets around Kharkiv, and the United States remains steadfast in not allowing Ukraine to use the most formidable munitions it has been given to fire on Russia: rocket missiles. long-range aircraft known as ATACMS, which can hit targets 300 kilometers (nearly 200 kilometers) away. miles away.

Instead, Ukraine can only use shorter-range missiles, known as GMLRS, which have a range of about 70 kilometers (about 40 miles).

For this reason, military analysts welcomed the decision, but moderated their expectations. Franz-Stefan Gady, an associate researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told CNN that GMLRS cross-border strikes will allow Ukraine “to strike certain Russian staging areas, command and control centers, as well as supply depots. This will not stop but will complicate Russian military operations against Kharkhiv.”

Mathieu Boulegue, a consultant at UK-based Chatham House, told CNN that the policy change “is not a game changer in itself. It’s a supplement, a steroid, an additional stimulant that allows Ukraine to defend itself.”

While the lifting of this taboo seems to mark a new chapter in the war, Russia has already experienced Ukrainian strikes with Western weapons on the territories it claims.

Ukraine has frequently targeted occupied Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, using “Storm Shadow” missiles supplied by the United Kingdom.

Ukraine also launched strikes on Kharkiv and Kherson in late 2022, as it sought to liberate regions occupied by Russia in the first weeks of the war.

Then as now, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials have wielded the nuclear saber in an attempt to deter Western support. Before Biden gave Kiev the green light, Putin said the decision could lead to “serious consequences,” especially for “small, densely populated countries.”

The United States has joined several other European countries, including the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, in removing this particular restriction on how Ukraine can use weapons supplied to it.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed Biden's decision to authorize some strikes on Russian territory as a “step forward” that will help his forces defend the besieged Kharkiv region.

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