For Ukraine, long-range weapons are key to victory over Russia
The adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, Mykhaïlo Podoliak, estimates that Ukraine will be able to win the war within the year if the West delivers more weapons to it, in particular missiles with a range of more than 100 kilometers.
“Only missiles with a range of more than 100 kilometers will allow us to significantly accelerate the clearing of territories”which will lead to the end of the war “either late spring, or early summer, or summer, or probably fall”, Mr. Podoliak told AFP. This type of missiles will allow the Ukrainian army to reach the Russian arms depots that Moscow has transferred far from the front in the occupied territories in order to put them out of reach of the systems currently available to the Ukrainian forces, he said. he explains.
The Ukrainians, who are already using formidable American Himars systems (range of 80 kilometres) and have just received their French equivalent, unitary rocket launchers (LRU) (about 70 kilometres), are demanding American ATACMS missiles, with a range of 300 kilometers. With longer range weapons, “we will destroy all the military infrastructure of the Russian army in the occupied territories, including in the Donbass” (eastern Ukraine) and in Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014, argued Mr. Podoliak.
Mykhailo Podoliak nevertheless assures that Ukraine will not attack targets on Russian territory once it has obtained these long-range weapons. “We are waging an exclusively defensive war”he stressed, warning that without massive deliveries of increased Western heavy weapons the war is likely to last ” decades “.
In addition to missiles, kyiv also needs armor, including “heavy tanks”like the Leopards, Germans, which Ukraine claims in Berlin, and cannon artillery. “France is already delivering light tanks to us. It is very good. But we still want to get 250, 300-350 heavy tanks”detailed the manager.