Kursk Shows Ukraine Could Win If West Ended Arms Restrictions: Official

Mihkelson also told the Post that Ukraine’s incursion marked a “turning point” and put Ukraine in a “much stronger” position to demand the military equipment it needs.

Ukrainian forces launched a surprise attack in Russia’s Kursk region early last month and had occupied nearly 500 square miles of Russian territory by last week, according to Ukrainian military chief Col. general Oleksandr Syrskyi.

The move forced Russia to redeploy tens of thousands of troops to Kursk and halted Russian advances in the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, Syrskyi told CNN last week.

It is also complicating Russian plans for offensive operations later this year, Ukraine’s military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov told Ukrainian radio station Radio Charter on Saturday, according to a translation by the Institute for the Study of War.

It is unclear how the incursion will end, but military experts say it would go even better if Ukraine’s Western allies let it use the long-range weapons they have provided to strike targets inside Russia.

The Western Allies raised some limitation in May, allowing Ukraine to strike Russian troops building up on its borders, but still not allowed to use Western weapons to carry out deep shots.

Speaking at a summit of defense ministers at Germany’s Ramstein Air Base on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine needed long-range air capability to stop Russia’s “aerial terror”.

“We also need strong long-term decisions from our partners to bring the just peace we are striving for closer,” he told the Kyiv Post.

There are 245 military targets in Russia within range of ATACMS missiles that Ukraine now has within reach, according to a map released last month by the American Enterprise Institute’s Institute for the Study of War and Critical Threats Project.

Last month, military experts told BI that allowing Ukraine to carry out long-range strikes on military sites inside Russia could not only help it destroy Russian assets, but also harm Russia’s economy and put under questioning the Kremlin’s ability to protect its airspace.

But US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said striking targets deep in Russia with US and Western weaponry would not have a significant impact on Ukraine’s defense against Russian aggression.

“There is no one ability that, by itself, is decisive in this campaign,” Austin told Politico.