u.s. intelligence agency: allowing ukraine to attack russia in depth will gain more than it will lose
2024-09-27
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xinhua news agency, beijing, september 27 (xinhua) the new york times disclosed on the 26th that the us intelligence agency assessed that if ukraine is allowed to use long-range missiles provided by the united states and other western countries to strike deep into the russian mainland, it will not only lead to a strong counterattack from russia, but will also not be enough. change the direction of the russia-ukraine conflict.
according to reports, the above-mentioned assessment content is disclosed for the first time. the report did not specify which intelligence agencies were involved in the assessment.
this is a picture of a building damaged in a drone attack in ramenskoye, moscow region, russia, on september 10. published by xinhua news agency (photo by alexander)
according to the assessment, if ukraine is allowed to use long-range missiles provided by the united states, britain and france to strike targets in the hinterland of russia, it may lead to stronger russian retaliation against the united states and its allies, and "lethal attacks" cannot be ruled out. at the same time, it is difficult for long-range missiles to play a role in turning the tide of the war, because ukraine currently has a limited number of such weapons, and it is uncertain how many more the united states and its allies will provide.
ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky went to the white house to meet with us president joseph biden on the 26th. according to the new york times, the difficult decision of whether to allow ukraine to strike deep into russia rests with biden alone. the british government publicly supports ukraine in doing so, but said that formally authorizing the strike requires biden's decision.
zelensky has repeatedly recently publicly or privately asked the united states and the west to "relax" restrictions on the use of long-range weapons to attack russia. russian president vladimir putin has repeatedly made strong statements to the united states and the west, warning the latter not to "give the green light" to ukraine. . biden's senior adviser analyzed that putin's response showed that russia may retaliate with "lethal force".
the u.s. assessment listed russia's possible retaliatory methods, including covertly setting fire to and sabotaging facilities in european countries, or openly launching attacks on military bases in the united states and european countries that resulted in casualties.
this is the white house taken in washington, the capital of the united states, on january 20, 2023. photo by xinhua news agency reporter liu jie
ukraine currently has three long-range missile systems provided by the united states, britain and france: the us-made army tactical missile system, the british-made "storm shadow" cruise missile and the french-made "scap" cruise missile. among them, the us-made army tactical missile system has a range of up to 306 kilometers, and the latter two missiles have a range of up to 249 kilometers. however, precision strikes against long-range targets require technical support from the united states and others, which weakens the missile's power to a certain extent.
a u.s. government official who requested anonymity told usa today on the 26th that although the biden administration has changed its policy and allows ukraine to use u.s.-made weapons to strike russian border areas adjacent to ukraine, it still prohibits ukraine from striking russian targets further away.
the assessment also pointed out that even if ukraine is allowed to use long-range missiles to strike deep into russia, the number of its existing missiles will not be enough to change the direction of the war. the supply of u.s.-made army tactical missile systems is already limited. if it provides more missiles of this type to ukraine, the united states must first consider its own military needs. in addition, after the first round of long-range strikes, russia may redeploy "key battlefield elements" such as ammunition depots, command posts, and attack helicopters, and withdraw beyond the range of ukrainian missiles.
since the ukrainian crisis escalated in february 2022, the united states and the west have continued to provide military assistance to ukraine. according to the associated press, just before biden met with zelensky, the united states announced on the 26th the latest batch of us$2.4 billion in long-term military aid, including the "patriot" missile system. one day ago, the united states announced a batch of "relatively timely" military aid worth us$375 million. this brings the total value of military aid provided by the united states to ukraine over more than two years to nearly $60 billion, which is equivalent to the amount of money the united states invested in rebuilding iraqi security forces and civilian facilities in the nearly ten years from 2003 to 2012 during the iraq war and the early post-war reconstruction period. . (ocean)
source: xinhua news agency client
