Social Media/via REUTERS
Experts from the ISW noted that Kiviselg might have misspoken about the average number of shells Russian forces fire each week. They said the commander could have meant 10,000 shells a day instead of 10,000 shells a week, but they couldn’t confirm that was the case.
They said Ukraine’s continued strikes would generate wider operational pressures on the Russian military.
Hitting military facilities and other targets deep inside Russia is a strategy that Ukraine has used to put pressure on Moscow, forcing it to disperse its weapons.
But Ukraine has been barred from using its arsenal of Western-provided long-range missiles to go after strategic targets inside Russia and has had to rely on drones and domestically produced weapons.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly asked the US and other Western allies to lift those restrictions.
In a nightly address on Saturday, Zelenskyy said he’d continue to talk with Ukraine’s partners and allies, including US President Joe Biden, to convince them about the need for “full-range” capabilities.
He told CNN last Friday that lifting the restrictions was a “key” part of the victory plan he will present to US officials this week and that he was hopeful his case would be heard.
Correction: September 24, 2024 — An earlier version of this story overstated the ISW’s position on Kiviselg’s calculations. ISW analysts reported that Kiviselg had made the calculations but did not make the same assessment themselves. The story has also been updated to acknowledge that Kiviselg may have misspoken about the average number of shells that Russian forces fire each week.