This follows from a report by the Institute for War Research (ISW), reports Ukrinform.

“Long-range Ukrainian strikes against Russian military targets behind Russia are critical to weakening Russian military capabilities across the war zone. Lifting restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Western weapons would allow Ukrainian forces to attack a wide range of key targets that support Russia’s war effort,” the analysts said.

According to an anonymous senior national security official in the Biden administration, Ukrainian attacks with Western-supplied weapons on targets in Russia would not be effective because the Russian military has withdrawn military aircraft from Russian air bases near Ukraine. However, this assessment ignores the fact that Russian forces are using shelters deep in Russia to build a wide range of infrastructure facilities in addition to airfields to support their military operations against Ukraine.

“The relocation of Russian air forces from Russian air bases within range of ATACMS does not preclude the usefulness of using ATACMS against other Russian military targets,” the analysts said.

According to the ISW, there are at least 250 military and paramilitary facilities in Russia within range of the ATACMS missiles that the US supplied to Ukraine.

“Only 17 of these 250 objects are airfields, and it is unlikely that the Russian military has withdrawn its troops from all other 233 objects to the same extent as it reportedly did with the aviation units,” the analysts said.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking at the meeting of heads of diplomatic missions of Ukraine on the topic “War Diplomacy: Resilience, Weapons, Victory,” said that lifting restrictions on the use of long-range weapons from Western supplies by Ukraine would help change the situation in the Donetsk region in Ukraine’s favor.