ISW: US authorises Ukraine to strike only 16% of Russia's reach

The permission granted to Ukraine to strike positions in Russia with US weapons applies to only 16% of Russian territory.

This conclusion was reached by experts from the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), who in their latest analytical review, published on the night of Monday, 10 June, point out that 84% of the Russian territory within the range of Ukrainian ATACMS missiles remains inaccessible to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

‘The US policy of restricting Ukraine's use of US-supplied weapons has effectively created a large cache that Russia uses to protect its combat forces, command and control, logistics, and logistics support services that the Russian army uses to conduct military operations in Ukraine,’ the report says.

The ISW calls the change in Western policy ‘a step in the right direction’, but stresses that ‘it is not enough to disrupt Russian armed forces operations to a significant degree’.

According to ISW, such an opportunity would arise if the West allowed the Ukrainian Armed Forces to use the weapons it supplied to strike the operational rear of the Russian military group and its deep rear in Russia.

In late May, against the backdrop of intensified Russian strikes in the Kharkiv region, a number of countries allowed Ukraine, which is defending itself against the Russian invasion, to use the weapons they provided to attack military targets on Russian territory.

Background. In early June, White House spokesman John Kirby said that the United States was ready to discuss with Ukraine the expansion of the geography of strikes against Russia. He noted that the White House had ‘changed its approach’ in supporting Ukraine.