Ukraine is expected to increase its long-range strikes in Russian airspace, the UK’s military chief said this week.
After the US secretly provided Ukraine with long-range ballistic missiles, Kyiv bombed a Russian military airfield in Crimea last week and Russian forces in another occupied area overnight, according to US officials.
Long sought by Ukrainian leaders, the new missiles give Ukraine nearly double the striking distance – up to 300 kilometers – that it had with the mid-range version of the weapon that it received from the US last October.
And now Ukraine is going to continue to use those new weapons, as Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the head of the UK’s armed forces, said to the Financial Times.
Radakin said: “As Ukraine gains more capabilities for the long-range fight…its ability to continue deep operations will [increasingly] become a feature [of war].”
READ MORE: Russian diplomat to US warns country has ‘chosen path of war’ with Ukraine aid
US officials would not provide the exact number of missiles given last month or in the latest aid package this week, which totals about $1 billion.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said this week about the long-range missiles: “We’ve already sent some, we will send more now that we have additional authority and money.”
Radakin said the new military aid from the US aims to help Ukraine shape the war “in much stronger ways” as Kyiv faces a “difficult” fight.
Until now, Ukraine has been forced to ration its weapons and has faced increasing Russian attacks. Ukraine had been begging for the long-range system because the missiles provide a critical ability to strike Russian targets that are farther away, allowing Ukrainian forces to stay safely out of range.
For months, the US resisted sending Ukraine the long-range missiles out of concern that Kyiv could use them to hit deep into Russian territory, enraging Moscow and escalating the conflict.
But Adm. Christopher Grady, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Wednesday that the White House and military planners had looked carefully at the risks and determined that the time was right to provide them now.
Grady said: “I think the time is right, and the boss (Biden) made the decision the time is right to provide these based on where the fight is right now.
“I think it was a very well considered decision, and we really wrung it out – but again, any time you introduce a new system, any change – into a battlefield, you have to think through the escalatory nature of it.”
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