Ukraine asked this Friday, through presidential advisor Mikhail Podoliak, for greater room for maneuver to hit military and strategic targets across Russian territory with weapons sent by Western partners.
Podoliak argued that the possibility of destroying military and strategic infrastructure throughout Russia, and not just in areas close to the border, as Kiev’s partners demanded, would radically change the situation.
This change in the rules for using Western weapons would give Ukraine an opportunity to regain the initiative, which has been on Russia’s side since the failure of last summer’s Kiev counteroffensive.
“Destruction of war infrastructures, regardless of how deep they are in Russian territory, including oil refineries,” he said on social media, describing what Ukraine would like to do, according to the Spanish agency EFE .
The initiative includes “attacks on resource concentration sites in the border regions of the Russian Federation along the entire front line.”
“Destruction of tactical aviation bases and logistics centers that allow the large-scale use of guided aerial bombs,” he added.
The Ukrainian presidential advisor was referring to a type of weaponry that Russia is using on a large scale to destroy Ukrainian positions and open the way for ground attacks.
The United States announced that it will authorize Ukraine to attack Russian military targets located near the border area that Russia is using to attack the Ukrainian region of Kharkiv (northeast).
The decision was announced after countries such as the United Kingdom and France said they would lift the ban on Ukraine using its weapons to attack certain targets in Russia.
In the message, Podoliak also called for a strengthening of restrictions on Russia’s access to world financial markets, as well as an explicit ban on the presence of European companies in the Russian market.
According to Podoliak, these measures “would drastically reduce Russia’s ability to finance the war”.
The set of measures would allow Ukraine to regain the initiative, according to Podoliak.
“All of them must be fully adopted and then the situation will be different”, he reiterated.
Since being invaded by Russia in February 2022, Ukraine has received financial and military aid from Western allies, but has also criticized hesitations and delays in weapons deliveries.
Kiev’s partners have also enacted sanctions against Russian interests to try to reduce Moscow’s ability to finance the war effort in Ukraine.
