ATACMS, Ukraine’s powerful new weapon, which will lengthen its “agony” according to Putin

The arrival to Ukraine of US long-range ATACMS missiles will change the course of the war, Ukrainian and Western experts say, but the president of Russia, Vladimir Putinassured today that they will only serve to lengthen the “agony” Ukrainian and increase the number of victims.

“There are no longer safe places for Russian troops within Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders,” said the advisor to the Ukrainian Presidency, Mikhailo Podoliak, referring to Tuesday’s attack with these missiles against Russian airfields in the eastern region of Lugansk and in Berdiansk, on the shores of the Sea of ​​Azov.

Retaining occupied territories, mission impossible

According to Podoliak, the ATACMS missiles supplied to Ukraine, with a range of up to 165 kilometers, make it an impossible task for Russia to retain the occupied areas in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, and to maintain the Black Sea Fleet on the Crimean peninsula in the medium term. .

“The countdown has started”warned the advisor, who highlighted today in a publication on the social network “they allow the logistics of the occupation forces to be destroyed with surgical precision and alleviate the situation on the front line.”

The spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, Yuri Ignat, stated in turn that the mere fact of being able to attack at such a distance with a type of weapon “against which Russia can do nothing already indicates that the situation will change.”

According to the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), after Tuesday’s attack, when – according to the Ukrainian military command – nine Russian helicopters were destroyed, Russia will probably move its aviation away from the front line, which will complicate its actions so much offensive as well as attack.

“This will be especially important for Russian helicopters, which have operated in relatively small areas of the front line for long periods of time,” explained the ISW, which highlighted the role of these aircraft in the fight against the Ukrainian mechanized forces at the beginning of the counteroffensive they launched on June 4.

Putin says nothing will change

However, the Russian president stated today that while the supply of ATACMS missiles to Ukraine creates additional threats to its military, this will not change the situation on the battlefront.

“This causes damage and creates additional threats. Naturally we will be able to repel these attacks. “War is war and these missiles represent a threat, but it is impossible to change the situation on the front line.”Putin said in Beijing at the end of his talks with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.

The Russian president described the supply of these missiles to kyiv as “one more mistake” of the United States, and that it could have refrained from sending weapons to avoid more Ukrainian victims.

“Besides, this is not good for Ukraine either. It simply prolongs his agony.” Indian.

The HIMARS, a precedent

But there is a worrying precedent for Moscow. And in the middle of last year, when Ukraine received the American HIMARS missiles, with shorter range and explosive power than the ATACMS, there was a turn in the war and the Ukrainian forces began to recover territories occupied in the first months of the invasion. Russian.

The United States also confirmed that the promised 31 Abrams M1A1 tanks are already in Ukraine.

“I think Ukraine will be moderate in terms of terms and places of its employment. The Abrams tank is an excellent armored vehicle, but it is not a magic formula”commented Colonel Martin O’Donnell, spokesman for the United States Army Europe and Africa Command, in statements to the Voice of America radio station.

For Putin, Washington’s biggest mistake is that “every time he gets more and more involved” in the conflict.

The head of the Kremlin commented on recent statements by US President Joe Biden, according to which Russia is losing the war in Ukraine.

“If Russia has lost the war, why supply ATACMS? “Let them collect the ATACMS, all the other weapons, and come have tea with us,” He ironized and described “laughable”Biden’s statements.