General Hodges makes forecast for liberation of Mariupol, Melitopol, Crimea

12.11.2022 23:22

Ukrinform

Retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, former commanding general for the U.S. Army in Europe, has said he believes that the liberation of Kherson opened the way for the Ukrainian Armed Forces of Ukraine to conduct a counter-offensive and retake other occupied cities in southern Ukraine and Crimea.

According to Ukrinform, Hodges said this in a post on Twitter.

"HIMARS will soon be firing from Kherson. The approaches to Crimea are within range. This will degrade Russian defenses/LOC's while "left wing" of the counter-offensive takes Mariupol & Melitopol by January. Then begins the decisive phase of the campaign...liberation of Crimea," he wrote.

HIMARS will soon be firing from Kherson. The approaches to Crimea are within range. This will degrade Russian defenses/LOC's while "left wing" of the counter-offensive takes Mariupol & Melitopol by January. Then begins the decisive phase of the campaign...liberation of Crimea. https://t.co/UBk5Lc5JIO
— Ben Hodges (@general_ben) November 12, 2022

Hodges also included in his post a diagram of the range of different types of missiles.

Approximate range for GMLRS launched from HIMARS vic Kherson is the blue circle. I imagine this will start soon, and will degrade/fix Russian defenses and LOC's north of Crimea. This also shows clearly why ATACMS would have immediate positive effect vs Russian bases in Crimea. pic.twitter.com/VNv3SmTKpj
— Ben Hodges (@general_ben) November 12, 2022

"Approximate range for GMLRS launched from HIMARS vic Kherson is the blue circle. I imagine this will start soon, and will degrade/fix Russian defenses and LOC's north of Crimea," he said.

According to Hodges, this also shows clearly why ATACMS would have immediate positive effect versus Russian bases in Crimea.

Photo: U.S. Embassy Kyiv