The UK Chief of the Defence Staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, told the Financial Times that Ukraine is set to increase long-range attacks inside Russia, while an influx of Western military aid will help Kyiv reshape its ‘difficult’ land fight against Russia.
During a nearly six-month pause in US funding for Ukraine, Russian forces made some limited territorial gains, while Ukraine sought more long-range weapons from the West and launched strikes against Russian facilities and infrastructure within Russia. The US has provided Ukraine with long-range ATACMS missiles, with President Joe Biden specifying that they should only be used within Ukrainian territory. Earlier, US officials criticized Ukraine’s ongoing campaign targeting the Russian oil processing industry.
Radakin acknowledged the challenging situation for Ukraine’s defense against the Russian advance. Despite the current pessimistic outlook, he emphasized that this does not reflect “longer trends more in Kyiv’s favor,” including the latest packages of military aid from the US and Europe, Ukraine’s increasingly successful long-range strikes, and Moscow’s “total failure” to choke off Kyiv’s vital grain exports via the Black Sea.