Using US ATACMS in Russia - Red Line or Byline?
Biden has finally allowed Ukraine to strike back at Russia inside Russia. This is the 12th of Putin's "red lines" the West has crossed. The click-seeking media is hyping it up.
Jed Sunden is the founder of the Kyiv Post and founder of the American Ukraine PAC. He has raised more than a hundred thousand dollars to support members of Congress - particularly Republicans - who support Ukraine.
He also writes periodic newsletters that are very smart and worth reading, like the one below.
Jed points out that the click-seeking media has incorrectly labeled the ATACMS as long range. According to media reports, the the 300km ATACMS are long range missiles but the 500km Russian Iskander are short range missiles.
Does anyone remembrer “Who is on first?”
Unfortunately, this inaccuracy is amplifying Putin’s messaging that the west is crossing a red line. What is missing from the media coverage - in addition to accurately labeling the ATACMS as short range - is that this is the 12th “red line” the West has crossed since 2022.
In response to the change in policy on US short range weapons, Putin launched an ICBM at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
My thought? Keep ‘em coming. These weapons cost tens of millions of dollars and they don’t seem to cause much more damage than a $3 million Iskander missile. Putin sent this one simply to give American bloggers (some of whom have been on the take from Russians) something to panic about.
If Putin wants to spend 10x on an ICBM to do the same amount of damage as an Iskander, I support him in this decision. Putin is already spending well beyond ten percent of his GDP on this war. Using expensive ICBMs on Ukrainian civilians will more quickly bring about the collapse of the Russian economy.
For those in the West who missed the first 11 red lines and are newly worried about escalation, it is worth noting that Biden’s policy of “managed escalation” has been restricting how Ukraine can use US weapons and slow-walking their delivery for years. In March 2022, Ukraine was fighting one nuclear power. With the addition of Iran in the fall of ‘22 and North Korea more recently, Ukraine is now battling three nuclear powers.
Putin respects strength. Let’s hope Trump doesn’t listen to the bed-wetting bloggers and follow Biden’s failed policies.
From Jed:
Old friend and Ukrainian patriot, Andrew Kinsel, clarified a key point in terminology about Ukrainian and Russian missiles which are confusing the terms of the debate in the War for Ukrainian Sovereignty.
Numerous news articles have called the ATACAMS: “long-range” tactical ballistic missiles.
See:
NPR: The U.S. confirms Ukraine fired long-range ATACMS into Russia for the 1st time
CNN: Ukraine fires US-made longer-range missiles into Russia for the first time
In fact, the ATACAMS are not long-range and have maximum range of 300km (186 miles)
BBC: The Army Tactical Missile System is a surface-to-surface ballistic missile capable of hitting targets at up to 300km (186 miles). This longer range makes them particularly important for Ukraine.
In contrast, the Russian Iskander has a range of 500km (310 miles) is normally labelled as a short-range ballistic missile.
ODIN (Official US Army Weapons Data-base: The Iskander (Western reporting name SS-26 Stone) short-range ballistic missile is a successor to the Oka (SS-23 Spider), which was eliminated under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty.
Center for Strategic Studies: The 9K720 Iskander (NATO: SS-26 “Stone”) is a road-mobile short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) with a range of up to 500 km.
The Russian military specifically target and bomb civilians in Kyiv and Lviv with Iskanders.
In contrast, Ukraine can not bomb Moscow, St. Petersburg or other Russian cities with ATACAMS. They are beyond the range of these missiles.
To quote Andrew:
ATACAMS and Storm Shadow are tactical weapon to hit near front staging areas and arms depots. Ukraine CANNOT hit the airforce bases that Russia is using to stage rocket attacks against Ukraine with the ATACAMS or Storm Shadow.
Please call the ATACAMS: “battle front weapons”, not tactical missiles and not long-range.
Incorrect language concerning ATACAMS allows people to mistakenly believe that President Biden gave Ukraine the ability to strike deep in Russia and “escalate”, the fighting when he did not.
Let’s ensure sloppy language does not inadvertently make an equivalence between the short-range battle-front weapons, such as ATACAMS, that Ukraine uses to hit near-by military bases and targets to the long-range missiles that Russia uses to target civilians.
Thanks to Andrew Kinsell, director KinselandCo.com.
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