(MENAFN- UkrinForm) He said this in an exclusive comment to Ukrinform.

The expert noted that Ukraine had been carrying out deep strikes regularly with domestically produced drones against Russian oil refineries, damaging or destroying around 25% of the country's refining capacity and energy storage facilities.

At the same time, Petraeus described U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to authorize the use of U.S.-provided missiles for strikes on Russia as "very helpful."

"I'm pleased to see him say that NATO should shoot down any Russian aircraft that enters NATO country airspace. I'm pleased to see him say that, maybe, Ukraine should retake all of its territory," Petraeus said.

He drew particular attention to the Ukrainian Flamingo missile, with a range of up to 3,000 kilometers and a warhead exceeding 1,000 kilograms, which is expected to enter service soon.

"It's typical Ukrainian ingenuity, where they've taken old Soviet bombs, put them explosives on the nose of a cruise missile they have designed with a jet engine and guidance system. And that will be a game changer. I think if that can be produced in substantial numbers, that will have an enormous effect on the battlefield in the Russian Federation. And that's very, very important," Petraeus said.

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He also expressed hope that Washington would, in the near future, supply Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles.

"I hope we can. Again, I tend to think that production of the Flamingo is going to be far more important than whatever number of Tomahawk missiles we might provide. But I'd be all for that decision," he said.

The expert noted that neither the current nor the previous U.S. administration should fear that providing American weapons to Ukraine would provoke escalation from Russia, since Moscow "has escalated every way that it possibly can and now is even putting drones and aircraft into NATO country airspace." He also welcomed Trump's latest statements and actions on Ukraine and Russia.

Petraeus expressed confidence that the United States and the European Union would maintain unity in their support for Ukraine.

"I think the biggest single issue right now, the biggest help we can provide to Ukraine would be if the EU is able to carry out this scheme, if you will, that transforms the 250 to 300 billion dollars of frozen Russian reserves in European banks into Euroclear bonds that can be provided to Ukraine that can enable Ukraine to double its production of all unmanned systems, etc. That would be huge," Petraeus said.

Looking ahead, he said he expected Russia to gradually exhaust the resources of its National Welfare Fund, while the West continues to crush Russia's war economy and punish those who sustain it by supplying components for its defense industry or purchasing its oil and gas. He added that the West should also ensure that Ukraine receives Russia's frozen currency reserves, as well as additional air defense and missile defense systems, which would stop Russian advances on the battlefield, strengthen Ukraine's protection from aerial attacks, and "really change the dynamics so that Putin realizes he cannot succeed and now is the time to have serious negotiations."

Photo: facebook / Warsaw Security Forum

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