US weapons could turn war into a 'nightmare' for Russia

Ukraine’s ability to take the attack over the border is having a ‘large psychological effect’, a colonel tells The Independent

- ASKOLD KRUSHELNYCKY

A Ukrainian colonel says Joe Biden’s decision to partially lift restrictions on using American-supplied weapons inside Russia has already yielded dramatic results in helping halt an advance by Vladimir Putin’s forces around the northeastern region of Kharkiv – and has made Moscow’s troops think twice about a widespread assault on the neighbouring area of Sumy.

The colonel, who has close contact with the general staff of Ukraine‘s army, says that Kyiv’s newfound ability to strike around 40km (25 miles) across the border into Russia using US weapons had helped stop enemy soldiers in their tracks in the border town of Vovchansk. A large part of the town, which has seen some of the fiercest fighting of Russia’s cross-border attack, had been taken by Russian troops before Ukrainian forces managed to slow down and then halt their advance, the colonel said.

“Our forces have pushed them back partly although they still hold about half of Vovchansk, much of which is now destroyed,” he says. “But they have captured about 70 sq km of territory and we don’t know when we’ll be able to push them all the way back over their border.”

The officer added that the ability to use such weapons had also forced the Kremlin to suspend preparations being made to invade the Sumy region, according to Ukrainian and Western intelligence. The colonel, who did not want to be named, said: “Just the easing of US restrictions has already had a large psychological effect on the Russians. For weeks they had been gathering tens of thousands of soldiers and vehicles in the Kursk region for an assault on Sumy. But the knowledge that we can now hit them at their formation points caused them to pull back.”