The United States has heeded President Volodymyr Zelensky's request to send missiles that can hit deep behind the front lines of the conflict with Russia. Now, according to Reuters, Russian forces will have to adapt or face potentially catastrophic losses.
The new weapon, the ground-launched small-diameter bomb (GLDSB), will allow the Ukrainian military to hit targets at twice the range of the missiles it now fires from US HIMARS missile systems. If these missiles are included in the next package of GLDSB weapons with a range of 151 kilometers, they will expose all Russian supply lines in the east of the country, as well as part of Crimea.
As a result, Russia will be forced to move its supplies even further from the front lines, as a result of which its soldiers will be more vulnerable, which will further complicate plans for a new offensive, according to Reuters.
"It could significantly slow down the Russian attack," said Andriy Zagorodnyk, former Ukrainian defense minister. "Just as HIMARS had a significant impact on the course of events, these missiles could have an even greater impact."
The GLSDB is a GPS-guided glide bomb that can maneuver to hit hard-to-reach targets such as command centers. It is not yet compatible with HIMARS, but the US will provide Ukraine with new missile launchers, British agency sources said. The missiles could be delivered as early as spring 2023, according to a document seen by Reuters.
When the United States sent HIMARS systems to Ukraine in June, it also sent missiles with a range of 77 kilometers. This was a major breakthrough for the Ukrainian military as it allowed them to destroy Russian ammunition and weapons depots.
Military experts claim that when Ukraine acquires new glide bombs, Russia will have to move its supplies even further from the front.
"Currently, we cannot hit Russian military facilities more than 80 kilometers away," said Ukrainian military analyst Oleksandr Musyenko. "If we can reach them all the way to the border with Russia, or in occupied Crimea, then of course that will reduce the potential for an attack by Russian forces."
What is crucial is that Ukraine will soon be in a position to reach every point in the occupied territory up to Crimea via Berdyansk and Melitopol. That is to force Russia to divert its supply trucks to the Crimean bridge, which was damaged in an attack in October.
"Russia uses Crimea as a large military base from which it sends reinforcements for its troops on the southern front," Musyenko told Reuters. "If we had missiles with a range of 150 kilometers, we could have disrupted the logistics connection with Crimea."
In addition to logistical consequences, the new longer-range weapon in Ukraine's arsenal could shake Russian self-confidence, the agency points out. For the Biden administration, the decision to send the GLDSB to Ukraine is a step towards fulfilling Ukraine's request to receive military tactical missile systems (ATACMS) with a range of 297 kilometers, which Washington has so far refused for fear of escalating the war.
Glide bombs, while not as powerful, but much cheaper, smaller and easier to deploy than ATACMS, are better suited to Ukraine's efforts to disrupt Russian operations and gain tactical advantage.
Nevertheless, said Tom Karako, an expert on weapons and security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, it is possible that the Ukrainians will receive weapons of even greater range in the foreseeable future.
"Again and again, the administration has said that it will go to a certain point, but no further," he said. "Then, as the situation worsened, they felt it was necessary to move on."
Russia has intensified pressure on Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine, where Kiev claims Moscow is sending thousands of soldiers and mercenaries to their deaths for little profit.
Moscow says its main goal in Ukraine is securing the rest of Donetsk province, one of four it unilaterally annexed last year. Its forces claimed to have made progress in the Bahmut area last Sunday.
A Belarusian volunteer who is fighting on the side of Ukraine in that city said that there are no indications that Ukrainian forces are planning to withdraw. “Right now, it's the exact opposite. We are strengthening our positions where the Russians are trying to cut us off... For now we are resisting”.
Ukrainians will fight "as much as they can" to keep Bahmut, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky promised yesterday at a summit with European Union leaders, where they discussed further sanctions against Russia and Ukraine's chances of joining the EU.
"No one will give up on Bahmut. We will fight as hard as we can. We consider Bahmut our fortress", he said.
Zelensky called on the EU to introduce new punitive measures against Russia, although the new package of sanctions that the bloc is preparing for the anniversary of the invasion will not meet his government's demands.
Ukraine applied for EU membership days after the start of the Russian invasion last year. The EU accepted the application, although it rejected Ukraine's invitations for membership under an accelerated procedure while the country is at war.
"The EU will support Ukraine and the Ukrainian people against Russian aggression as long as it takes," the EU leaders said in a joint statement.
EU officials have listed several requirements for membership, ranging from political to economic stability and the adoption of various EU laws. The process is likely to take years, Reuters said.
"The truth is that we simply haven't gotten there yet," said one EU official.
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