Ukraine’s long-range attacks on Russia: A new phase of the war

The Ukrainian military is slowly taking off the gloves and attacking military targets inside Russia.

At the end of June, the Ukrainian Air Force destroyed a command and control post of a Russian regiment in Russia, demonstrating what it is capable of when allowed to use all its ammunition unhindered.

Long-distance strikes and restrictions

The Russian military target was located near the border in Belgorod Oblast, near Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city.

According to the Institute for the Study of War’s latest operational update, “Satellite imagery confirms that the Ukrainian Air Force conducted a successful attack on a reported Russian regiment command post in Belgorod Oblast in late June 2024, likely using Western-sourced weapons. This is further evidence that Ukraine could disrupt Russian offensive operations should the West continue to ease restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Western-sourced weapons to attack military targets in Russia.”

In many ways, the Ukrainian military has fought with one arm tied behind its back. On the one hand, Western military aid has enabled Ukraine to fight back and liberate much of the territory forcibly seized by Russian invading forces. On the other hand, US-imposed restrictions on the use of some weapons systems have prevented the Ukrainian military from fully exploiting them. Moreover, the White House’s stance has encouraged other donor countries to impose similar restrictions on some of the weapons systems they have supplied to Ukraine.

The weapons systems affected are mainly long-range munitions with sufficient destructive power to cause serious damage, such as the MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and the Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missiles. Indeed, for most of the war, the Ukrainian military was prevented from fully exploiting two of its most effective weapons systems, the M142 Highly Mobile Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS).

Crimea, however, is a different story. The Crimean peninsula, occupied and illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, is a strategically important piece of land in the region. Ukrainians have treated Crimea as their own country throughout the conflict, and the West has generally followed this logic, allowing the deployment of donated weapons systems on the peninsula. The results have been great. In repeated strikes with ballistic and cruise missiles, Ukrainian forces have destroyed key command and control facilities, logistics centers, air defense stations, radar installations, ammunition depots, fuel depots, and other high-value military targets.

The war has now lasted almost 900 days. This morning a Russian missile hit a children’s hospital in Kyiv. It is high time that the fear of escalation shifted to Russia and not to Ukraine.

About the author

Stavros Atlamazoglou is an experienced defense journalist specializing in Special Operations and a veteran of the Greek Army (military service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army Headquarters). He holds a BA from Johns Hopkins University and an MA from the Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). His work has been featured in Business Insider, SandboxxAnd SOFREP.

All images are Creative Commons.