- Things are starting to look up for Ukraine, a retired UK colonel said on Wednesday.
- Ukraine has notched a couple of wins after it was allowed to hit Russian military targets directly.
- Vladimir Putin, for his part, has also threatened to retaliate against Ukraine's Western allies.
Letting Ukraine attack Russian military targets directly with its "wonder-weapons" is beginning to turn the tide of the war in Kyiv's favor, says a retired UK colonel.
"For too long, Ukraine has had to fight the invading Russians with one hand tied behind its back," Hamish de Bretton-Gordon wrote in a commentary for The Telegraph that was published on Wednesday.
The former soldier held multiple appointments in his 23-year military career with the British Army. Besides serving as the UK's Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Regiment's commanding officer from 2004 to 2006, de Bretton-Gordon also led NATO's Rapid Reaction CBRN Battalion from 2005 to 2007.
"At last, however, that is beginning to change. From now, with permissions granted from various Western countries — but most crucially the United States — Ukraine can strike targets far deeper into Russia," de Bretton-Gordon said.
Last month, Politico reported that the Biden administration had given Ukraine its permission to use US-provided weapons on Russian targets in Kharkiv. Russian forces launched an assault on the region in May as part of a summer offensive on Ukraine's second largest city.
"Whilst it is still obliged to prioritize the Kharkiv front by the nature of the permissions granted (Washington is still too afraid to give Kyiv carte blanche to fire anywhere), there is evidence that it has freed up the Ukrainian armed forces to use the other weapons it had in reserve to strike elsewhere," de Bretton-Gordon noted in his commentary.
The former colonel listed several Ukraine's recent military accomplishments, which included drone assaults on Russian naval vessels at Taganrog Bay and the Akhtubinsk airfield in southern Russia. The latter attack resulted in the destruction of Russia's latest stealth aircraft, the Su-57 fighter bomber.
"For too long Kyiv was fighting an uneven battle, putting it in the impossible position of seeing Russia massing troops across its own border, unable to hit them," de Bretton-Gordon said. "Now that has changed, I think the Kharkiv front will begin to turn back in Kyiv's favor."
The recent turn of events, de Bretton-Gordon said, wasn't something that Russia could simply withstand by relying on attritional warfare.
"Russia cannot sustain the industrial level of casualties it is currently facing — over 500,000 so far. I don't care how good Russia's industrial complex is. In the modern era that figure is simply not sustainable," he said.
But Ukraine's accomplishments in the battlefield could risk further Russian escalation.
Last month, Russian leader Vladimir Putin hinted that European countries who'd encouraged Ukraine to attack Russia directly could face reprisals.
"So, these officials from NATO countries, especially the ones based in Europe, particularly in small European countries, should be fully aware of what is at stake," Putin told reporters on May 28.
"They should keep in mind that theirs are small and densely populated countries, which is a factor to reckon with before they start talking about striking deep into the Russian territory," he added.
Representatives for Ukraine's and Russia's defense ministries didn't immediately respond to requests for comment from BI sent outside regular business hours.