Ukraine has commenced utilizing long-range ballistic missiles clandestinely furnished by the United States, representing a substantial escalation in the confrontation with Russia. These missiles, designated as ATACMS, boast nearly twice the range of the mid-range variant Ukraine obtained last October, significantly bolstering Ukrainian forces’ capacity to strike Russian objectives at extended distances. The United States is supplying additional ATACMS missiles as part of a newly approved military aid package, despite earlier apprehensions that their deployment could exacerbate the conflict. Ukraine has confronted intensifying Russian attacks and has been compelled to ration its weaponry. The long-range missiles will augment Ukraine’s ability to neutralize Russian logistical hubs and troop concentrations beyond the immediate front lines.
The United States initially resisted supplying Ukraine with long-range missiles due to concerns that Kyiv might employ them to strike deep within Russian territory, potentially provoking Moscow and escalating the conflict. This apprehension led the administration to provide the mid-range version with a limited range of approximately 100 miles in October. However, a senior U.S. military official stated on Wednesday that the White House and military planners meticulously assessed the risks and concluded that the time was opportune to provide long-range capabilities to Ukraine.
Admiral Christopher Grady, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, emphasized that long-range weapons would enable Ukraine to eliminate Russian logistics nodes and troop concentrations not situated on the front lines. He declined to specify the exact weaponry supplied but asserted that they would be “highly disruptive if employed judiciously, and I am confident they will be.”
Like many other cutting-edge weapon systems provided to Ukraine, the administration carefully considered the potential risks of escalation. “I believe the time is right, and the boss (Biden) decided it was the right moment to provide these based on the current state of the conflict,” Grady remarked on Wednesday. “I believe it was a well-thought-out decision, and we thoroughly analyzed it. However, whenever you introduce a new system or any modification to a battlefield, you must consider its potential for escalation.”
Ukrainian officials have refrained from publicly acknowledging the receipt or deployment of long-range ATACMS. Nevertheless, while expressing gratitude to Congress for passing the new aid bill, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted on the social media platform X that “Ukraine’s long-range capabilities, artillery, and air defense are indispensable instruments for the expeditious restoration of a just peace.”
A U.S. official disclosed that the Biden administration had forewarned Russia last year that if Moscow acquired and deployed long-range ballistic missiles in Ukraine, Washington would equip Kyiv with similar capabilities. The official stated that Russia had obtained some of these weapons from North Korea and had utilized them on the Ukrainian battlefield, prompting the Biden administration to authorize the provision of new long-range missiles.
The U.S. had withheld confirmation of the long-range missiles’ transfer to Ukraine until they were actually employed on the battlefield and Kyiv authorities approved public disclosure. One official indicated that the weapons were deployed early last week to attack an airfield in Dzhankoi, a city in Crimea, a peninsula annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014. They were subsequently utilized again east of the occupied city of Berdyansk.
Videos posted on social media last week captured the explosions at the military airfield, but officials declined to confirm ATACMS involvement at the time. Ukraine’s initial deployment of the weapon coincided with congressional gridlock that had delayed the approval of a $95 billion foreign aid package for several months, encompassing funding for Ukraine, Israel, and other allies. Confronting severe shortages of artillery and air defense systems, Ukraine has been forced to ration its ammunition amid the delayed U.S. funding.
As the war enters its third year, Russia has intensified its attacks across eastern Ukraine, exploiting the delay in U.S. weapons deliveries and its superiority in firepower and manpower. It has increasingly employed satellite-guided gliding bombs, launched from aircraft at a safe distance, to bombard Ukrainian forces grappling with troop and ammunition deficiencies.
The mid-range missiles provided last year, along with some of the more recently delivered long-range ones, are equipped with cluster munitions that rupture in the air upon launch, releasing hundreds of bomblets rather than a single warhead. Others supplied recently contain a solitary warhead. A crucial factor in the March decision to send the weapons was the U.S. Army’s capacity to initiate the replacement of the older ATACMS. The Army is currently procuring the Precision Strike Missile, thus making it more amenable to withdrawing ATACMS from its inventory to supply Ukraine, the official explained.
