The USA is concerned about Ukraineʼs attacks on Russiaʼs strategic radar stations "Voronezh-M" and "Voronezh-DM". These stations are part of the Russian system of early warning of a missile-nuclear attack.
Citing sources, The Washington Post writes that American government officials consider these radars "sensitive" and that they were allegedly not involved in the war against Ukraine. Moscow may believe that its strategic deterrent forces have become a target — this worries Washington, which Kyiv knows.
"These facilities were not involved in supporting Russiaʼs war against Ukraine [...]. But they are sensitive places because Russia could see its strategic deterrent forces as a target, which could undermine Russiaʼs ability to maintain a nuclear deterrent against the United States,” the US official said.
According to WP, Washington expressed its concern to Kyiv. The Ukrainian side believes that these radars were involved in the war against Ukraine. A Ukrainian official familiar with the matter said that Russia used the specified radars to monitor the activities of the Ukrainian military and tracked the launches of drones and missiles over the Russian Federation. According to him, the Main Directorate of Intelligence is behind the attacks on the radar.
The newspaper writes that Joe Bidenʼs administration is currently actively discussing the lifting of restrictions on the Armed Forces of Ukraine striking Russia with American weapons. But if Russiaʼs early warning system is blindsided by Ukrainian attacks, even partially, it could harm the strategic stability of relations between Washington and Moscow, a US official said.
- The Voronezh-M radar located in the city of Orsk, Orenburg region of Russia (1 800 km from the border with Ukraine) was attacked on the night of May 27. On that day, the Schemes project published a satellite image showing that dark spots appeared on the territory of the radar. These are probably traces of a fire.
- The Voronezh-DM radar, which is located in the village of Hlyboky, Krasnodar Territory, was attacked on May 23. Russian channels then published photos of the damage.
- The publication Defense Express writes that the strikes on "Voronezh-M" and "Voronezh-DM" actually disabled 50% of all over-the-horizon radars, which are responsible for the conditional direction "south-southeast". These are the "strategic eyes" of the Russian Federation.