Ukrainian President Zelensky says the new weapon system has a range of 700 km and “the task is to increase this number.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country has developed a weapon that can hit a target 700 kilometers (435 miles) away, apparently referring to an airstrike this week on an airport in western Russia that destroyed several military aircraft .
The weapon was manufactured by Ukraine’s Ministry of Strategic Industry, but he did not provide further details.
“The range of our new Ukrainian weapons is now 700 kilometers. The task is to increase this number,” Zelensky wrote in a post on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, late Thursday evening.
Zelenskyy’s claim about new Ukrainian long-range weapons came ahead of a Russian official reporting early Friday morning that air defense units had neutralized “an unidentified object” in Russia’s western Pskov region, the same region where a Ukrainian airstrike reportedly hit four Il- 76 military transport aircraft on Wednesday.
Today was full of events.
With government officials and military personnel, we focused on the front and our offensive operations. The range of our new Ukrainian weapons is now 700 kilometers. The task is to increase this number.
Another important news for the front… pic.twitter.com/MmfSQupY2L
— Volodimir Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa) August 31, 2023
While Ukraine rarely comments directly on specific attacks inside Russia, Zelensky twice appeared to suggest on Thursday that Ukrainian forces were behind the attack in Pskov.
“The results of our weapons – new Ukrainian weapons – are 700 km away,” he also said in his evening video address. “And the task is to do more.”
The attacked airport in Russia’s Pskov region is about 700 km north of the Ukrainian border.
Ukraine’s Western allies generally prohibit Kiev from using weapons it supplies to attack Russian territory, but have also said Ukraine has the right to attack Russian military targets with its own weapons if it sees fit.
On Wednesday, a four-hour wave of drones – for which Moscow blamed Ukraine – was sent against targets in six Russian regions. This was, according to some, the largest drone attack on Russia since the invasion of Ukraine last year.
Over the past month, Ukraine has stepped up its drone strikes on targets deep inside Russia – including the capital Moscow – and on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine, in what appeared to be the implementation of a recent promise by Zelensky that Ukraine would take the war back Russia.
Attacks deep inside Russia and cross-border sabotage missions are part of Kiev’s efforts to maintain domestic pressure on the Kremlin militarily and politically as Ukraine’s counteroffensive launched in June slowly wears down parts of Russia’s front line, analysts say.
Ukraine aims to “undermine Russia’s morale and increase pressure on its commanders,” the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) think tank said in an assessment this week.
The strategy is to “bring Russian forces to a tipping point where combat power and morale could begin to break down,” the IISS said in the analysis.
After months of slow fighting through heavy minefields, Ukrainian forces have reportedly in recent days reached key Russian defense lines south of the village of Robotyne, which they captured last week in Ukraine’s western Zaporizhia region.
They are now advancing between the nearby villages of Novopokropivka and Verbowe, looking for a way to bypass the anti-tank ditches and rows of concrete pyramids known as Dragon’s Teeth that form Russia’s main fortifications visible from space, Portal news agency reported.
A breakthrough would be the first test of Russia’s deeper defenses, which Ukraine hopes will be more vulnerable and less heavily mined than the areas its troops have crossed so far in their offensive.
In a statement Thursday, Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar reported unspecified successes near Novopokropivka, without giving details. She also said Ukrainian forces were advancing near Bakhmut in the east, the only city Russia captured in its own offensive earlier this year.
Heavy fighting had engulfed villages south of the city, she said.
Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, also reported “positive dynamics” near Bakhmut.