Not giving consent to the use of ATACMS missiles on the territory of the russian federation, but only on the occupied Crimea, is not due to fear of escalation. Allegedly, the main reason is the limited stock of these ballistic missiles that can be transferred to Ukraine.
CNN, citing unnamed officials, writes that it is better to use these missiles to attack targets in the temporarily occupied Crimea.
Read more: The U.S. Weighs the AGM-158 JASSMs Transfer to Ukraine: What Is Special about These Missiles
As Defense Express we should recall that in May of this year, the Pentagon officially announced that it was no longer concerned about reducing ATACMS misseles stockpiles and had reached the pace of delivering dozens of missiles per month. But the US stocks do not always equal its ability to transfer weapons.
But if the missiles stockpile is limited, then this decision is quite logical.
The fact is that Ukraine's partners regularly conduct reconnaissance flights over the Black Sea, involving RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned surveillance and reconnaissance aerial vehicles, RC-135 Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft, and other assets. At the same time, russians have long and actively complained that after such flights Ukraine painfully strikes while russia suffers significant losses in air defense systems, aircraft, ships, as well as command and control personnel.
Indeed, when it comes to long-range precision munitions, their effectiveness directly depends on aiming. The data on the target should have the same accuracy and relevance.
At the same time, the ability of partners to conduct similar monitoring of facilities in Kursk, Voronezh, and Belgorod regions of the russian federation is much less. So, the potential missile consumption to hit a target will also be higher, while the effectiveness will be lower.
At the same time, this position cannot explain why Ukraine is not allowed to use long-range versions of ATACMS missiles against airfields used by russian aircraft.
In particular, the kill zone of 300-km range of this missile includes airfields in Kursk, Voronezh, Taganrog, Rostov-on-Don, Yeysk, Millerovo, Buturlinovka, Morozovsk, Kushchyovskaya, and others.
Earlier Defense Express reported that Canada had confirmed full support for Ukraine’s use of military aid in russia.
Read more: russia Builds Trenches Amid Growing Fears of Rapid Ukrainian Advance in Kursk Oblast – ISW
