'Moscow is burning — and that's a good thing': Why Ukraine's mid-range strikes inside Russia matter
Photo: Ukrainian soldier (facebook.com bsp.donbas)
Ukrainian forces are increasing strikes on Russia's rear. The defenders are already successfully hitting enemy targets at depths of up to 100 kilometers, says Brigadier General Yevhen Lasiichuk, 7th Air Assault Corps commander, in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.
"Moscow is burning — and that's a good thing," Lasiichuk said. He refers to Ukraine's longer-range deep-strike campaign against targets inside Russia.
The relevant tool for his own corps is exactly the mid-range strike: standard-issue equipment now used to hit Russian command posts, troop concentrations, and ammunition depots along the routes leading toward Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad.
The general noted that the middle-strike capability is already the present and the future of the Ukrainian military. He suggested that this system will continue to expand and be introduced into every unit with each passing day.
Increasing strike depth
These strikes allow the military to detect and destroy more enemy forces in the rear, at certain distances deep behind their lines. Ukraine's forces are trying to block all of Russia's advance routes toward Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad. As the commander said, Ukraine's army has them completely under control.
According to Lasiichuk, Ukraine is also increasing its strike depth and is already capable of reaching about 100 kilometers beyond the line of combat contact. Strikes are carried out against command posts, enemy staging areas, and troop concentrations.
The exact types and names of the drones used by Ukrainian forces to strike the enemy's operational depth have not been disclosed. As the general noted, the military has its own little secrets regarding these weapons.
On July 1-2, Ukrainian drones struck 12 electrical substations and one gas distribution station in the temporarily occupied territories. It took the Defense Forces just 48 hours to hit these facilities.
Ukrainian forces attacked eight of Russia's ten largest oil refineries. Some of these facilities had already been targeted in previous strikes.
