Russia moves aircraft to remote bases as U.S. delays ATACMS use approval - military expert

He said this on the Espreso TV channel.

“Conceptually, it is important to have not only permits to use weapons, but also the weapons themselves. These are two components of the same process. Without weapons and a sufficient number of munitions, the lists of Russian targets are meaningless, because there are targets, but there are no weapons to hit them. The same applies to authorizations to strike,” noted Lakiichuk.

According to a military expert, while we are waiting for permission from the Americans to strike Russian airfields within the ATACMS range, the Russians are gradually moving their aircraft to more remote airfields outside this zone.

“On the one hand, this is to our advantage, because they will have fewer opportunities. But we could already protect Ukraine's rear positions and the front line from Russian guided bombs. The Russians are already anticipating that there will be such permits for the use of long-range weapons. The Americans are deliberately pushing for the Russians to move away from these targets,” emphasized Lakiichuk.

• ISW has developed a list and interactive map of Russian military targets to show how the U.S. ban on Ukraine's use of ATACMS limits its ability to hit key military sites in Russia.

What is known

In late May, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken confirmed that President Joe Biden had secretly authorized Ukraine to strike targets in Russia with U.S. weapons. Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the message had come from the United States and called the ally's action a “step forward.”

At the same time, Michael Carpenter, a representative of the US National Security Council, when asked by a journalist whether the authorization applies only to the defense of Kharkiv or to other regions on the border with Russia, such as Sumy region, said: “This applies to Ukrainians being able to defend themselves. Yes, across the border against Russian attacks coming from there.”

On June 5, the Associated Press reported that Ukraine had already used American weapons to strike targets in Russia.