ISW: Ukrainian strikes against military targets within Russia's rear are crucial

So far the US says Ukraine can only fire its missiles a short distance - and Russia's missile launchers are too far inside Russia to be targeted.

Transcript

00:00Russia launched a combined wave of attacks against Ukraine for the second night in a

00:08row, with the one on Monday being its largest aerial strike since the beginning of the full-scale

00:14invasion with over 230 missiles and drones.

00:18The attacks have renewed the calls to the Western allies to lift the restrictions on

00:23using long-range weapons to hit targets inside Russia.

00:28If you want to defend these types of attacks effectively and also efficiently, you have

00:34to go after the shooter.

00:36You have to take out those launchers that deploy these missile systems, and you cannot

00:42wait until they reach your airspace in order to counter them.

00:46The Institute for the Study of War says there are at least 250 military and paramilitary

00:52objects in Russia within the range of ATACAMs, missiles that the United States has provided

00:58Ukraine.

00:59It's now for the decision-makers to really weigh those risks.

01:03Are you willing to take the risk that we indeed experience such a humanitarian disaster of

01:09unprecedented scale in Europe?

01:12Or do we take those residual risks in terms of escalation management and potential Russian

01:19responses and allow Ukraine to finally employ these Western weapon systems against Russian

01:26targets deeper inside Russian homeland?

01:29Washington currently only allows strikes using the US-provided HIMARS equipped with guided

01:35multiple launch rocket system at maximum, permitting Ukraine to strike only about 20

01:41out of the 250 objects it could strike with ATACAMs.

01:45This is the yellow area here.

01:48Now, the Institute for the Study of War says Ukrainian forces do not have to strike every

01:54single Russian military and paramilitary object in Russia within the range of Western-provided

02:00weapons in order to start generating significant operational pressures on the Russian military.

02:07But lifting those restrictions would generate a serious Ukrainian long-range strike threat

02:13that would force a decision point on the Kremlin and likely prompt the Russian military

02:19command to significantly reconfigure assets throughout the deep region to protect against

02:26Ukrainian strikes.