Striking Moscow with missiles won’t help Ukraine — U.S. General Hodges

Former U.S. Army Europe commander General Ben Hodges shared his opinions during an interview with Antin Borkovskyi on the Studio West program on Espreso TV.

Hodges emphasized that, under international law, Ukraine has the right to self-defense, which includes the ability to strike targets on Russian territory. He highlighted the importance of understanding that Ukraine does not act like Russia, which he said violates international law daily and commits war crimes by deliberately targeting civilians and infrastructure. Meanwhile, Ukraine tends to focus more on military logistics, factories producing drones and other weapons, and airfields.

In his view, launching a missile at the center of Moscow would not benefit Ukraine. Instead, it would give Russia grounds for complaint and could make some countries question whether to continue their support. However, he added that it's unlikely anyone would seriously object to Ukraine targeting legitimate military-industrial sites anywhere inside Russia.

General Ben Hodges expressed the opinion that Russian air defense systems are undoubtedly effective to a certain extent, acknowledging that not every Ukrainian drone or missile would be able to bypass them. 

However, he said he was confident that Ukraine’s General Staff and the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (HUR) would find ways to achieve their objectives, as demonstrated during the well-known Operation Spider Web. 

He also noted that he considered strikes on Russia’s oil and gas infrastructure, which supplies exports to countries like India and China and funds the war effort, to be fully justified and legitimate targets. According to him, Russian air defenses are incapable of protecting everything, and he remained convinced that Ukraine would succeed in striking the most important targets.

• On July 15, the Financial Times, citing sources, reported that U.S. President Donald Trump privately urged Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy to intensify strikes deep into Russian territory, asking if Kyiv could strike Moscow.