MICHAL CIZEK/AFP via Getty Images; Scott Peterson/Getty Images
- Retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges told Newsweek that Ukraine could retake Crimea before the summer ends.
- But Hodges says this is contingent on the US giving the Ukrainians long-range precision weapons.
- Hodges believes recapturing Crimea would be essential for Ukraine to rebuild its economy.
A former US Army general says he thinks Ukraine can recapture Crimea before the summer is over, but only if the US contributes more long-range weapons.
"My principal caveat still remains that if the United States were to provide what Ukraine needs, then Ukraine could actually still liberate Crimea by the end of this summer," retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges told Newsweek on Wednesday.
Hodges' remarks come amid a rapidly evolving situation in Ukraine. The Ukrainians kicked off their counteroffensive in June, and the effort has seen both sides weathering equipment and personnel losses.
But Hodges fears that there will be no breakthrough in Crimea if the US does not give Ukraine "long-range precision weapons or other weapon systems that can reach further than they can reach right now."
The US has been Ukraine's largest backer since the Russian invasion began. According to the State Department, the US has sent approximately $40 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since Russia invaded them in February 2022.
The US in February sent Ukraine Boeing's Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB), which has a range of 94 miles.
The GLSDB was meant to give the Ukrainians "longer-range capability" to "take back their sovereign territory in Russian-occupied areas," Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said in February.
Notably, the US military aid packages thus far have not included the US-made Army Tactical Missiles Systems (ATACMS), which has a far longer range of 190 miles.
"That would enable them to make Crimea untenable. And that's the key: Make the Black Sea Fleet have to move out of Sevastopol, which would happen if Ukraine was able to put ATACMS inside that harbor," Hodges told Newsweek.
"Those ships couldn't just sit there, all the facilities would be destroyed. Same for the airbase in Saki and other facilities," he added.
The Biden administration has held back from sending long-range weapons to Ukraine that have the capacity to strike targets in Russia. US officials told Ukraine in February that they weren't able to send over the ATACMS due to insufficient supply, per Politico.
For his part, Russian leader Vladimir Putin has repeatedly threatened to use Russia's tactical nuclear weapons since the war in Ukraine began. He made the threat again on Friday, when he told the audience at an economic forum in St. Petersburg that Russia would use warheads stationed in neighboring Belarus to stave off a "strategic defeat" in Ukraine.
"They didn't want to do it, so they continuously came up with excuses like we don't have enough. That's not true. On ATACMS, we're selling them to Poland. The defense industry is not a charity," Hodges said.
Russia invaded and annexed Crimea illegally back in 2014. It has since been turned into a forward operating base by the Russians.
Crimea was also used as a launchpad for Russian forces when they invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The peninsula continues to serve as a base of attack for the Russian military.
Hodges previously told Insider in January that Ukraine will "never be safe or secure or able to rebuild their economy so long as Russia retains Crimea."
"They'll be able to launch attacks from Crimea, Ukraine will never be able to rebuild its economy because the Russian navy will be blocking the Azov Sea as well as Odesa and Mykolaiv," Hodges told Newsweek.
"How's Ukraine going to have an economy? It's not good for anybody in Europe," he added.
Representatives for Hodges and the State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider sent outside regular business hours.
from Business Insider https://ift.tt/x74kfwJ
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