Ukraine will be allowed to use US-supplied long-range missiles at targets in Crimea, but experts do not believe the recent US aid package will change the war.

According to the Pentagon, the US approved the Armed Forces of Ukraine striking targets in Crimea with ATACMS missiles, which Kyiv received recently. Currently, occupied Crimea is the center of Russian air and ground forces, and where Russia has had a relatively safe haven until this month. In addition, Ukraine can use long-range ATACMS to strike the rear of the Russian army in other occupied regions of Ukraine to damage the Russian logistics network in the southeast of the country.

After a recent allocation of $61B in aid, Kiel Institute experts pointed out that the new aid package will provide only a “temporary respite, but not a radical break” in the war. According to analysts, by the end of the year, Western military aid to Ukraine may return to the level of early-mid 2023.

“If the US does not approve additional packages at the end of 2024 or the beginning of 2025, Ukraine risks facing the same deficit in 2025,” experts emphasize.