Ukraine received permission to fire US rockets at Russia on Friday

For more than two years, after Russia expanded its war against Ukraine, the administration of U.S. President. Joe Biden has drawn a red line for Ukrainian forces.

The administration would provide the Ukrainians with precision munitions, including aerial glide bombs, Harpoon cruise missiles, M30/31 rockets for high-mobility artillery rocket systems, and rockets for the Ukrainian’s tactical missile systems. army.

The Ukrainians could use these munitions against Russian targets on Ukrainian soil. But if they hit targets inside In Russia, the White House could suspend all future aid.

But recent Russian strikes on Kharkiv, just 40 kilometers from the border in northeastern Ukraine, helped change Biden’s mind. A month of indiscriminate strikes has displaced tens of thousands of civilians and killed many. On May 25, Russians bombed a hardware store in this city of 1.4 million, killing 18 people, including two children.

On Friday, the White House erased its red line.

That night, the Ukrainian military reportedly aimed some of its HIMARS wheeled launchers at the Russian town of Belgorod, 32 kilometers north of the Russian-Ukrainian border in southern Russia.

“This is a welcome step that will now allow us to better protect Ukraine and Ukrainians from Russian terrorism and attempts to expand the war,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote in front of dozens of 660-pound rockets. , each carrying up to 57 miles. with 50 pounds of high explosives, it rained on Belgorod.

Russian media captured the sound of air warning sirens and fiery shots from air defense batteries as the Ukrainian rockets headed toward the town of 384,000 people. State media claimed air defense batteries shot down 14 rockets, and there are traces of rocket fragments on the ground.

It’s unclear how much damage the raid inflicted, and, more precisely, how much damage it inflicted. military targets.

But what the Ukrainians are trying to accomplish is obvious. Belgorod and surrounding towns provide a base of operations for the Russian army’s Northern Grouping, which has been attacking Ukrainian border towns since May 10, with the possible aim of breaking through Ukrainian lines and moving towards Kharkiv.

In three weeks of heavy fighting, this group of Russian troops captured – at great cost – a chain of border villages and transformed the town of Vovchansk, a few kilometers south of the border, into a rubble-strewn battlefield. Rapid action by Ukrainian reinforcements – the 36th Marine Brigade, the 71st Jager Brigade and the elite 82nd Air Assault Brigade, among other units – halted the Russian advance.

Belgorod only grew in importance as the battle progressed. There are so many Russian casualties in the region’s hospitals that the local health system “is in a state of collapse,” noted the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies.

There are signs that the Russians are regrouping for a new assault. Troop movements in the towns of Graivoron, Borisovka and Proletarsky, a few kilometers west of Belgorod, “possibly indicate the formation of a strike group in Belgorod oblast,” according to the CDS.

By striking Belgorod and the surrounding oblast, the Ukrainians eroded the Northern Group of Forces – and this so-called new strike group – without having to fight the Russians street by street in Vovchansk.

To be clear, Ukrainian forces could strike Belgorod before this week, but only using locally made or European munitions. In fact, Belgorod has been a target since April 2022, when Ukrainian army attack helicopters crossed the border and launched rockets at an oil facility in the city.

But the best and most numerous deep-strike munitions in Ukraine are made in the United States. A truly sustained and damaging bombardment of Russian bases in Belgorod requires the use of HIMARS, ATACMS, and US-supplied glide bombs.

The Ukrainians finally have the green light to proceed. “I am grateful for this vital support,” Zelensky wrote.

Sources:

1. Volodymyr Zelensky: https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1796628936127910194

2. UK Government: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/russias-bombardment-of-kharkiv-is-having-an-appalling-impact-on-the-regions-civilians-uk-statement-to -the osce

3. TASS: https://tass.com/defense/1796819

4. Center for Defense Strategies: https://cdsdailybrief.substack.com/p/russias-war-on-ukraine-280524; https://cdsdailybrief.substack.com/p/russias-war-on-ukraine-270524