Wednesday, April 25, 2024 – The United States quietly sent long-range ballistic missiles to Ukraine as part of a package of military support in March, and Ukraine has already used the weapons twice, According to American officials.
The longer-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) can
hit targets as far as 300km (186 miles) away, nearly double the range of the
mid-range ATACMS that the US began sending towards the end of last year.
The US has been reluctant to provide Ukraine with the
longer-range weapon amid concerns they could be used on targets deep inside
Russian territory and escalate the conflict but Russia has been attacking
Ukraine's power and civilian infrastructures non-stop killing hundreds of
people in the last month.
In February, Biden approved the delivery of the missiles and
a “significant” number was included in a $300m aid package announced the
following month, officials said.
“We’ve already sent some, we
will send more,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told
reporters on Wednesday, April 24.
State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said the delivery
had not been announced “in order to maintain operational security for Ukraine
at their request”. Neither the US military, the State Department nor the
Ukrainian government confirmed the number of ATACMS sent.
Ukraine has been forced to ration its weapons amid a
protracted delay to a $61bn military assistance package that was finally passed
in the US this week. ATACMS are expected to be included in the first $1bn
tranche of that aid package.
The weapons sent this month were used on April 17 to strike
an airfield in Dzhankoi in Crimea, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014.
They were also used this week against Russian forces in southeastern Ukraine,
near the occupied city of Berdyansk.
Admiral Christopher Grady, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, said the White House and military planners had looked carefully at
the risks of providing long-range weaponry to Ukraine and determined that it
was the right time.
The weapons were sent on the condition they be used only
inside Ukrainian sovereign territory.
“I think the time is right,
and the boss [President Biden] made the decision the time is right to provide
these based on where the fight is right now,” Grady said.
Another US official reportedly told the Reuters news agency
it was Russia’s use of North Korean-supplied long-range ballistic missiles
against Ukraine in December and January plus Russia’s continued targeting of
Ukraine’s critical infrastructure that led to the change of heart.
“We warned Russia about those
things. They renewed their targeting.” said the official, who spoke on
condition of anonymity
The protracted delay in US funding and weapons deliveries
has given Russia the space to push its advantage in firepower and personnel to
step up attacks across the front line in eastern Ukraine, where it claims to
have taken control of a number of settlements this month. It has increasingly
used satellite-guided gliding bombs – dropped from planes at a safe distance to
attack Ukrainian forces.
Ukrainian officials have not publicly acknowledged the
receipt or use of long-range ATACMS.
0 Comments