Ukraine has for the first time deployed long-range ballistic missiles provided by the United States, launching attacks on a Russian military airfield in Crimea last week and Russian forces in another occupied region overnight. The new missiles, which have a striking distance of up to 300 kilometers (190 miles), nearly double the range of the mid-range version of the weapon that Ukraine received from the U.S. last October. Ukrainian leaders have long sought long-range missiles, as they provide a critical ability to strike Russian targets that are farther away, allowing Ukrainian forces to stay safely out of range. One of the U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the delivery before it became public, would not provide the exact number of missiles given last month or in the latest aid package, which totals about $1 billion. Ukraine has been forced to ration its weapons and is facing increasing Russian attacks. A senior U.S. military official said Wednesday that the White House and military planners looked carefully at the risks of providing long-range fires to Ukraine and determined that the time was right to provide them now. Adm. Christopher Grady, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told The Associated Press in an interview that long-range weapons will help Ukraine take out Russian logistics nodes and troop concentrations that are not on the front lines. Ukrainian officials haven’t publicly acknowledged the receipt or use of long-range ATACMS. But in thanking Congress for passing the new aid bill Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted on the social platform Telegram that “Ukraine’s long-range capabilities, artillery and air defense are extremely important tools for the quick restoration of a just peace.” One of the U.S. officials said the Biden administration warned Russia last year that if Moscow acquired and used long-range ballistic missiles in Ukraine, Washington would provide the same capability to Kyiv. Russia got some of those weapons from North Korea and has used them on the battlefield in Ukraine, said the official, prompting the Biden administration to greenlight the new long-range missiles. The U.S. had refused to confirm that the long-range missiles were given to Ukraine until they were actually used on the battlefield and Kyiv leaders approved the public release. One official said the weapons were used early last week to strike the airfield in Dzhankoi, a city in Crimea, a peninsula that Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014. They were used again overnight east of the occupied city of Berdyansk. The mid-range missiles provided last year, and some of the long-range ones sent more recently, carry cluster munitions that open in the air when fired, releasing hundreds of bomblets rather than a single warhead. Others sent recently have a single warhead. One critical factor in the March decision to send the weapons was the U.S. Army’s ability to begin replacing the older ATACMS. The Army is now buying the Precision Strike Missile, so is more comfortable taking ATACMS off the shelves to provide to Ukraine, the official said.
Ukraine Deploys US-Supplied Long-Range Missiles, Striking Russian Targets in Crimea and Occupied Areas
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