Russia Moves 90% of Aircraft Beyond ATACMS Range
But this might be good news for Ukraine
US intelligence is now reporting that Russia has transferred 90% of its military planes to bases outside the range of Ukraine’s ATACMS.
While this might seem like bad news for Ukraine and its supporters, there is an operational price that Russia must pay for this that nobody is talking about.
But first, how did we come across this information?
Kyiv has been lobbying Western allies to lift restrictions on using American-supplied weapons to attack targets deep within Russian territory.
So far, the US has refused, instead encouraging Ukraine to use its own long-range drones to attack Russian targets deep inside Russia.
The Biden administration has been feeling the heat from Ukraine supporters like me. In response, an unnamed intelligence official told the Wall Street Journal, “With 90% of the planes out of reach, striking deep inside Russia with ATACMS makes little strategic sense.”
While this is a weak justification for keeping restrictions in place, the big headline is the fact that the US revealed, likely based on satellite intelligence, that Russia has relocated most of its fighters and bombers further away from Ukraine.
