250 Russian military facilities are within range of ATACMS missiles, only permission from the US is needed - ISW

There are at least 250 military and paramilitary targets in Russia that can be hit with ATACMS missiles. However, the United States is currently limiting the use of these missiles to strike targets deep in Russia, allowing only HIMARS anti-aircraft missile systems.

This is stated in a report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). The United States has authorized Ukraine to strike Russian military targets in the rear using HIMARS, which allows it to hit only 20 of 250 targets.

Of these, only 17 are airfields, and it is unlikely that the Russian military has moved its assets from the remaining 233 sites.

Long-range strikes against Russian military targets in the rear are key to weakening Russia's military capabilities, and lifting restrictions on Ukraine's use of Western weapons would expand the range of important targets.

Analysts note that U.S. officials' comments focusing on the redeployment of Russian aircraft have so far largely ignored most of the targets within the ATACMS range that Ukrainian forces could strike if U.S. bans were lifted.

Many of the 233 military and paramilitary sites within the ATACMS range are large military bases, communications stations, logistics centers, repair shops, fuel and ammunition depots, and permanent headquarters from which it would be extremely difficult or even impossible to quickly redeploy assets or increase their protection.

"Any assessment that argues that there is no point in allowing Ukraine to strike targets in Russia on the exclusive basis of air asset redeployments is incomplete without also accounting for the hundreds of other facilities supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine and would thus be incorrect," the analysts write.

The report notes that Ukrainian forces do not need to strike every Russian military and paramilitary facility within range of Western weapons to begin to exert significant operational pressure on the Russian army. Although constant Ukrainian drone strikes on the Russian rear are threatening some of these facilities, they are not yet significant enough to force the Russian command to consider a large-scale redistribution of logistics systems, which would be extremely disruptive.

The threat to Russia's rear areas is also likely to force the Russian military command to reconsider the distribution of its limited air defense and electronic warfare assets to protect a larger area.

Experts emphasize that Ukraine's recent successful strikes on Russian military targets using domestically produced precision weapons demonstrate Ukraine's urgent need for such strikes. The lifting of U.S. restrictions could greatly contribute to meeting it.

Earlier, it was reported that on August 24, the soldiers of the Main Intelligence Directorate conducted another successful operation to "demilitarize" Russia on its own territory. They destroyed a field depot of the Russian army near the city of Ostrogozhsk, Voronezh region.

Early on the morning of August 24, it became known that an ammunition warehouse in the Voronezh region of the Russian Federation was on fire and detonating. According to the official version of the local authorities, the cause of the emergency was the "fall of debris" from a Ukrainian drone that was allegedly shot down by Russian air defense. The Russian officials did not explain why the "debris" fell right where the target was headed if their "world's best air defense system" had been working.

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