Zelensky: Missiles will speak. US rockets hit Russia.
“The missiles will speak for themselves,” Zelensky said. A few hours later, American missiles with 8,000 submunitions flew toward Russia.
Yesterday, The New York Times reported that the administration of U.S. President Biden belatedly allowed Ukraine to launch American-made long-range missiles at Russian targets.
After the news broke, Ukrainian President Zelensky declared that “the missiles will speak for themselves.”
A few hours later, under cover of night, a Ukrainian battery launched eight 3,700-pound Army Tactical Missile System missiles at the Russian missile storage base in Karachev, Bryansk Region, western Russia, 60 miles from the Ukrainian border.
The Ukrainians attacked the arsenal of the 67th Missile and Artillery Directorate in Bryansk for obvious reasons. The arsenal covers an area of at least 3.3 square kilometers and is one of the largest ammunition depots in the Kremlin. On October 8, Ukrainian drones had already attacked the arsenal.
It is unclear what extent of the damage was caused by the GPS and inertial guidance ATACMS. The Russian Foreign Ministry said anti-aircraft guns shot down five approaching missiles and damaged a sixth, “whose fragments fell into the technical area of the military facility, causing a fire.”
Russia shot down only two of the missiles, according to Reuters.
In the nearly year since donating the 180-mile-range ATACMS missiles, the White House has resisted Ukrainian requests to fire missiles at targets on Russian territory. Instead, the Ukrainians have fired the 90s-era ATACMS missiles (each capable of firing nearly a thousand grenade-sized submunitions) at Russian airfields, supply depots, and troop concentrations in Russian-occupied Ukraine.
The Biden administration ultimately reversed course after North Korea sent thousands of troops to reinforce Russian forces in a costly and so far unsuccessful counteroffensive in Kursk Province, east of Bryansk. A strong Ukrainian force holds the 250-square-mile Kursk salient. Kyiv appears intent on using the salient as a potential bargaining chip in future ceasefire talks.
The White House has reportedly approved ATACMS strikes to support Ukraine’s defenses at Kursk, but continues prohibiting strikes elsewhere in Russia. The Bryansk Arsenal undoubtedly stores ammunition for the 50,000 Russian soldiers fighting at Kursk.
Recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin lowered Russia’s official threshold for first use of nuclear weapons, a move interpreted by some observers as a response to the new ATACMS policy. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov absurdly characterized the international response to Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine as “the West’s war against Russia.”
The Biden administration rejects that characterization. “We are not at war with Russia,” said Sabrina Singer, deputy Pentagon press secretary. “The party that continues to escalate this war is Russia, which is bringing another foreign country into the fray.”
The Russians anticipated the change in ATACMS policy a month ago and began adding levees and other protective structures to the most vulnerable facilities in and around Kursk. “There is evidence that Russia has been fortifying the Kursk military air base since early October,” said Tatarigamy, founder of the Ukrainian analytical group Frontiliens Insight.
If the Russians had also reinforced the defenses of the 67th Arsenal of the Main Directorate of Missiles and Artillery in Bryansk, those preparations could have mitigated the impact of the missiles and nearly 8,000 submunitions that fell on Tuesday.
