Ukraine would win war faster if it could fire Western weapons deep inside Russia, Navy commander says

The course of the entire war would have been very different had Ukrainian forces been allowed to use western munitions without restrictions from the very beginning.

“The sooner [Ukrainian] armed forces have the necessary battle capabilities and certain capabilities to destroy the enemy's infrastructure facilities, the sooner we will win,” the Commander said.

“If Ukraine had certain types of long-range weapons, which can be used deeper in enemy territory, of course, the enemy would have behaved differently, including on the battlefield,” he said, adding that Russia, “knowing the battle capabilities of [our] armed forces, reacts accordingly.”

The UK, US and other allies only agreed to start giving Ukraine longer-range missiles last year. Ukrainian forces have used British Storm Shadow and American ATACMS missiles to hit targets in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine but not deep inside Russia, amid concerns about escalation.

Earlier, spokesman for the US Department of Defense, Patrick Ryder, denied a Newsweek report that stated that the US will destroy decommissioned ATACMS systems, as reported by Voice of America journalist Carla Babb on X (formerly Twitter) on Jan 4.

In October, Ukraine first received long-range American ATACMS missiles, with a range of about 160 km.

The first ATACMS strike was against the occupiers' airfields in Berdyansk and Luhansk. Special operations forces said that nine helicopters and special equipment of the enemy were destroyed. The Armed Forces also hit Russian ammunition depots.