Russia announced on Tuesday that it had shot down a US long-range GSDB missile, a situation that Moscow saw as the first confirmation of the delivery of this weapon to Ukraine, which considers it crucial to launch its next counter-offensive.
Ukraine has not given any indication of Washington supplying these devices.
The Russian announcement comes a day after confirmation of the delivery of British, American and German tanks to the Ukrainian armed forces, vehicles that Kiev considers essential to fulfilling its ambitions of military reconquest.
“The anti-aircraft defenses (…) shot down 18 missiles from the Himars system and a guided missile GLSDB”, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement, referring to these guided devices with a range of up to 150 kilometers, which were promised to Kyiv by the United States in early February.
The GLSDB (“Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb”) are high precision, small diameter devices manufactured by Boeing (North America) and Saab (Swedish).
They can travel up to 150 kilometers and threaten Russian positions, especially ammunition depots, which are far from the front line.
“The accuracy of the GLSDB is so high that they can hit a car’s tire in their trajectory,” says Saab on its website.
Ukraine insisted on the need to use this ammunition to destroy Russian supply lines to make up for its shortfall in men and ammunition, in view of its counter-offensive to repel Moscow forces occupying a vast area of South – and occupy eastern Ukraine. .
The delivery to the Ukrainian army in June 2022 of the Himars high-precision mobile missile launcher systems, with ammunition with a range of 80 kilometers, enabled Ukraine to harass the rear of the Russian army and launch counter-offensives in the south and north-east of the country between September and November.
In response to the threat from the Himars, the Russian forces withdrew their supply lines, notably by withdrawing their ammunition reserves from the front.
Westerners initially expressed reluctance to provide longer-range systems, fearing they would reach Russian territory and cause an escalation.
Kiev, in turn, has repeatedly promised that only targets in occupied territory would be hit.
In the face of massive attack campaigns launched in recent months against Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, the United States finally announced on February 3 that it would provide the GSDB to Ukraine.
However, the delivery schedule has not been announced, with various sources indicating it would take several months.
The Russian military offensive on Ukrainian territory, launched on February 24 last year, plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
The Russian invasion – justified by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by the international community at large, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and Russia to impose political and economic sanctions.
Information about the war in Ukraine released by the two sides often cannot be independently confirmed.
Source: DN
