Satellite Images Show Hundreds of Russian Facilities in Range of US ATACMS

The remains of the US-made ATACMS long-range missile fired by Ukraine and shot down by the Russian air defence systems in Ukraine, near Lugansk. The U.S. will not allow its ATACMS to be used inside Russia.

Satellite images have shown that at least 250 military and paramilitary facilities are in range of Ukraine's U.S.-supplied ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems).

The U.S. sent several assignments of the long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Kyiv earlier this year, but Ukraineis only allowed to use them in mainland Ukraineand in annexed Crimea, not in mainland Russia.

An unnamed senior national security official in President Joe Biden's administration recently told Politico that ATACMS strikes against targets in Russia would not be as effective as Kyiv would hope anyway because Moscow has redeployed its military aircraft from Russian air bases near Ukraine.

But researchers at the Institute for the Institute for Study of War (ISW) have argued against this, in its assessment of the Russian Offensive Campaign on Saturday, when it published satellite images and maps which show that 250 targets are still in range of Ukraine's ATACMS.

The images show that the targets include large military bases, communications stations, logistics centers, repair facilities, fuel depots, ammunition warehouses, and permanent headquarters.

The ISW said it "would be extremely difficult or impossible [for Russia] to quickly redeploy assets" from these places.

"Only 17 of these 250 objects are airfields, and it is unlikely that the Russian military has redeployed assets away from all the other 233 objects to the same degree as it has reportedly done with aviation assets," researchers wrote.

They added: "Ukrainian forces do not have to strike every single Russian military and paramilitary object in Russia within range of Western-provided weapons to start generating significant operational pressures on the Russian military."

Ukraine does have permission to use U.S.-supplied HIMARS systems with GMLRS [Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems] on military targets inside Russia, but these have a shorter range.

Just 20 out of the 250 potential targets are included in these weapons' range, according to the ISW.

It said: "U.S. officials' comments centered on Russia's redeployment of air assets have so far largely ignored the majority of targets in range of ATACMS that Ukrainian forces could strike if U.S. prohibitions were lifted."

Newsweek has contacted the U.S. Department of Defense via email, outside of office hour, for comment.

In July, the Pentagon issued a warning against the war spreading outside of Ukraine's borders.

"We do not want to see unintended consequences, an escalation that can turn this conflict into a wider one that will go beyond the borders of Ukraine," press secretary, Major General Pat Ryder, told Voice of America's Ukrainian edition at the time.

This came after the U.S. government decided to relax its ban on general weapons and equipment being used to strike inside Russia in May, following Moscow attacks in the Kharkiv region, but this came with the limits that included not using ATACMS.

On August 6, Kyiv launched a surprise incursion into the Russian territory of Kursk, which borders Ukraine's Sumy region, seizing control of 1,250 square kilometers (482 square miles) of Russian territory and 92 settlements, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last Monday. This marks the first time that foreign troops have seized Russian territory since World War II.

The Washington Post reports that the Pentagon has asked Kyiv what it needs to make the mission work with an unnamed U.S. official telling the newspaper: "They may have a plan, but they're not sharing it with us."

Start your unlimited Newsweek trial