The Armed Forces of Ukraine plan to strike important targets in Russia with 600-km Storm Shadow cruise missiles, sources at US intelligence services say.
The selected targets allegedly include:
Earlier, The Telegraph and The Guardian also reported that the UK authorized Storm Shadow strikes on Russian territory without official public approval.
According to the US intelligence community, Kyiv plans to enlarge the fleet of its Air Force, disperse military aircraft, arm them with Storm Shadow missiles and launch massive missile attacks deep into Russia.
Such attacks are supposed to demoralize residents of Russia's largest cities as millions of Russians will thus experience the operation of air defense systems literally above there heads. War will come directly to their homes, people will see their cities on fire, whereas defense factories and major highways will lie in ruins.
Ukraine would also want to strike the Crimean Bridge. They consider such an attack desirable, yet ineffective due to the characteristics of the Storm Shadow missiles and the density of air defense systems at the facility.
Ukraine's ultimate goal is to sow panic and chaos in the Russian society, to instill fear, helplessness and horror in Russians to eventually trigger massive protests across the country.
Ukraine thus hopes to force Moscow to peace and hold peace talks with Russia from a position of strength.
Earlier, Research and Analytics said that MI6 representatives admitted in conversations with Ukrainian military officials that possible casualties among tourists during attacks on the Crimean Bridge would be "an insignificant and useful factor."