Ukraine Presents White House With List Of Targets Deep Inside Russia

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov has revealed to CNN that the Zelensky government has presented a list of significant targets which lie deep inside Russia to the Biden White House for approval to strike.

His words in the new CNN interview come as Kiev is engaged in intensive lobbying with Washington to get President Biden to greenlight the use of US missiles for longer range attacks. Ukraine has also been begging to receive long-rage missiles toward that end.

"We have explained what kind of capabilities we need to protect the citizens against the Russian terror that Russians are causing us, so I hope we were heard," Umerov told CNN’s Alex Marquardt on "The Situation Room."

That's when Umerov specified that the White House has been provided a list of desirable targets "deep" in Russian territory:

But Umerov pushed back on such assessments, saying Ukraine has presented the US a list of targets they would use ATACMS to strike.

"We are showing that the airfields that they are using to hit our cities are within the range of deep strikes," Umerov said on CNN.

CNN says that the Biden administration is actively mulling the lifting of all restrictions. This comes dangerously as Ukraine's Kursk offensive is approaching the one month mark (highly dangerous for the prospect of triggering WW3).

Kiev officials have described that part of the purpose of invading and holding Russian territory is to show NATO backers that Putin's red lines are bluff. 

Zelensky is hoping that as a result the West can be convinced that there's nothing to worry about in terms of escalation with nuclear-armed Russia.

Ukraine especially wants all current restrictions on ATACMS systems' range and use to be lifted. It argues this is crucial for protecting Ukrainian civilians.

At this point in the war, Ukraine has been sending weekly and near daily drone strikes against Russia, targeting especially oil depots and energy facilities. Several more have been reported struck and damaged on Sunday, including sites in the Moscow region.

"They’re killing our citizens. That’s why we want to deter them, we want to stop them, we don’t want [to] allow their aviation to come closer to our borders to bomb the cities," Umerov further told CNN.

Ukraine's military has said it is still advancing in Kursk; however, in Donbass where the real front lines are is a very different story. There the Russians are regularly advancing, and have Kiev forces outmanned and outgunned.

But with these expanded cross-border strikes into Russia growing more bolder, and given the White House may openly come out and start supporting this, many analysts are waiting for President Putin to exact revenge in a major way which sends a strong 'message' that he is in fact willing to act on his red lines. It's perhaps only a matter of time for such a massive new escalation from Moscow. This could include directly targeting the Ukrainian capital in a 'shock and awe' way, or possibly even a hit on Ukrainian parliament or government buildings.