Ukraine calls on US to allow ATACMS strikes against Russia amid operation in Kursk region

#Kanal13copy​ #likeKanal13copy​ #followKanal13copy #warinukraine #newsupdates #news #rumblenewvideos #russiaukrainenews #breakingnews
FOLLOW TO US.

Ukrainian officials are asking the United States to allow them to use long-range ATACMS to hit airfields that Russia uses to launch retaliatory attacks, which Kiev believes would allow it to hold on to part of the Kursk region.

"It will give them the leverage they need to negotiate with Russia - that's what it's all about," a Zelensky adviser told The Washington Post on condition of anonymity .

He also said Ukraine had deployed a significant number of troops and that they had captured about 100 square kilometers of enemy territory. In three days, according to Zelensky's adviser, Ukrainian troops had advanced past cities of thousands, taken hundreds of prisoners and seized a gas metering station that Russia uses for energy transactions with Hungary and Slovakia.

"According to Zelensky's adviser, Ukraine now controls a gas metering station located about 5 km from the border with Russia. But gas was still flowing through Sudzha, the last operational loading point on the pipeline that carries Russian natural gas to Europe via Ukraine. According to the adviser, the station is unlikely to be used as leverage because the pipeline passes through Ukraine anyway, and Kyiv could shut off the flows at any time," the newspaper writes.

The Ukrainian offensive has been more successful than even many officials in Kyiv expected, it has been noted. While the precise purpose of the operation is unclear, analysts say that in addition to potentially diverting Russian troops from the eastern Donetsk region, Ukraine may be trying to gain leverage in future negotiations.

"Ukrainian forces have clearly advanced quite far into the Kursk region, but how much territory they control or actually intend to control remains unknown," said Michael Kofman, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Whatever the reason, the Kursk offensive has put new pressure on Russian dictator Vladimir Putin as ordinary Russians have been forced to evacuate the region where they have faced the same types of shelling that have plagued Ukrainian civilians for more than two years.