Washington appears to have played down speculation about allowing Ukraine to expand the use of long-range NATO missiles inside Russia following Moscow’s warning. However, the Democratic Party's "October surprise" may still be in the works, warns ex-US Army psychological warfare officer and State Department counterterrorism analyst Scott Bennett. The US establishment's attempt to raise the stakes prior to the November election came amid Russia's continuous advance, which has not been slowed down by Ukraine's doomed Kursk incursion. "The military mathematics shows very clearly the overwhelming victory that will inevitably come to Russia," Scott Bennett told Sputnik.