Kyiv wants to launch Anglo-French Storm Shadow missiles at Russia’s heartlands as ‘demonstration’ attacks

Ukraine wants permission from the west to use long-range Storm Shadow missiles to destroy targets deep inside Russia, believing this could force Moscow into negotiating an end to the fighting.

Senior figures in Kyiv have suggested that using the Anglo-French weapons in a “demonstration attack” will show the Kremlin that military sites near the capital itself could be vulnerable to direct strikes.

The thinking, according to a senior government official, is that Russia will consider negotiating only if it believes Ukraine had the ability “to threaten Moscow and St Petersburg”. This is a high-risk strategy, however, and does not so far have the support of the US.

Ukraine has been lobbying for months to be allowed to use Storm Shadow against targets inside Russia, but with little success. Nevertheless, as its army struggles on the eastern front, there is a growing belief that its best hope lies in counter-attack.

  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
    32·
    fyra månader sedan

    Attacks launched deeper into Russia deplete ammo from the Ukrainian front lines. It’s a real change in strategy.

    • drathvedro@lemm.eeEnglish
      2·
      fyra månader sedan

      You mean by disrupting the supply lines? Because Russia has a shitton of supplies, it’s just that they’re nowhere near Ukraine.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
        23·
        fyra månader sedan

        Because Russia has a shitton of supplies

        I keep getting told they’re broke, they’re out of supplies, and its game over for them by EOY.

        they’re nowhere near Ukraine

        The article is discussing whether bombs can reach all the way to Moscow. This doesn’t seem to be about cutting supply lines. It seems like the goal is to terror-bomb major civilian centers in hopes that Russians will revolt against the war.

        But then that’s the exact same strategy Russians ran against the Ukrainians after their initial offensives stalled, and it hasn’t appeared overly successful either.

        • drathvedro@lemm.eeEnglish
          21·
          fyra månader sedan

          I keep getting told they’re broke, they’re out of supplies, and its game over for them by EOY

          Oh no, it’s just that there is a market for such “news”. Russia pumps out exactly the same kind, but in reverse, about how Ukraine’s going to fall any moment now for the past two and a half years. But reality is that the situation is at a stalemate, with Ukraine getting infused with boatload of weapons once in the while, while Russia has a steady and self-sufficient production but is short on soldiers willing to fight in unjustified conquest.

          It seems like the goal is to terror-bomb major civilian centers in hopes that Russians will revolt against the war

          Oh nooo… This is going to have exactly the opposite effect. I was previously writing a huge comment detailing how even if targeting out only the military targets, there’s always a risk of collateral damage and how each mistake can result in even more Russian troops in the trenches, but then threw it all out to clarify what you’ve meant. If going full Israel was the plan all along… well… are you sure you want to support that?

          • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
            11·
            fyra månader sedan

            If going full Israel was the plan all along… well… are you sure you want to support that?

            You just have to few every baby Russian as a future Enemy Combatant in the same way Israelis view every baby Palestinian as a future terrorist.