WASHINGTON — The U.S last week secretly sent a new long-range missile system to the Ukrainewhich has already been used by Ukrainian forces to attack a Russian military airfield in Crimea and against Russian troops in the southeast, according to US government sources.
Long requested by Ukrainian leaders, the new ATACMS missiles are capable of traveling up to 300 kilometers and give Ukraine almost twice the strike distance that the country achieved with the medium-range version, which it received from the United States in October. One of the officials said the US is supplying more of these missiles in new military aid package signed by President Joe Biden this Wednesday.
According to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the shipment had not been officially announced, Biden secretly approved the decision to send more than 100 long-range missiles in mid-February. They were part of a $300 million arms shipment to Ukraine in March, the first new aid package for the country since funding ended at the end of December.
Ukraine has been forced to ration its weapons and has faced increasing Russian attacks. The country of Volodmir Zelensky has pleaded for long-range missiles because they provide a critical ability to hit more distant Russian targets, allowing Ukrainian forces to remain out of harm’s way.
Information about the delivery was kept so secret that lawmakers have been demanding in recent days that the United States send the weapons — without knowing that they were already in Ukraine.
On Tuesday, Ukraine used long-range missiles to attack Russian troops in the Sea of Azov port city of Berdiansk, one of the officials said. As early as last Wednesday, large fires and explosions were reported at a military airfield in Dzhankoi, Crimea, another ATACMS target, according to the sources.
US feared escalation of conflict
For months, the United States resisted sending long-range missiles to Ukraine out of concern that Kiev could use them to reach deep into Russian territory, provoking Moscow and worsening the conflict. This was one of the main reasons why the government sent the medium-range version, with a range of around 160 kilometers, in October.
Admiral Christopher Grady, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the White House and military planners carefully analyzed the risks of providing long-range weapons to Ukraine and determined that now was the right time to provide them.
ATACMS missiles have the capacity to travel up to 300 kilometers and give Ukraine almost twice the strike distance that the country could achieve with the medium-range version Photograph: John Hamilton/US Army via AP, archive
Grady told The Associated Press that the long-range weapons will help Ukraine eliminate Russian logistics nodes and concentrations of troops that are not on the front lines. He declined to identify which specific weapons were being supplied, but said they would be “very disruptive if used correctly, and I’m confident they will be.”
Like many of the other sophisticated weapons systems supplied to Ukraine, the administration has considered whether their use could create the risk of further escalation of the conflict. The Biden administration continues to make clear that weapons cannot be used to strike targets in Russia — only those within occupied Ukrainian territory, according to one of the officials.
“I think the time is right, and the boss (Biden) has made the decision that the time is right to provide them based on where the war is now,” Grady said Wednesday. “I think it was a very well thought out decision, and we really exploited it to the fullest — but again, any time you introduce a new system, any change — on a battlefield, you have to think about the escalating nature of it.”
Ukrainian authorities have not publicly acknowledged the receipt or use of long-range ATACMS. Ma, in thanking Congress for approving the new aid package on Tuesday, Zelensky noted in a post on of a just peace.”
One of the US officials said the Biden administration warned Russia last year that if Moscow acquired and deployed long-range ballistic missiles in Ukraine, Washington would provide the same capability to Kiev.
Russia obtained some of these weapons with North Korea and used them on the battlefield in Ukraine, the official said, prompting the Biden administration to give the green light to the new long-range missiles.
Stock is limited
With the war now heading into a third year, Russia has used the delay in US weapons deliveries to its own advantage to intensify attacks in eastern Ukraine. The country of Vladimir Putin has increasingly used satellite-guided glide bombs — dropped by plane from a safe distance — to attack Ukrainian forces beset by troop and ammunition shortages.
American military officials say the U.S. ATACMS arsenal is relatively small. Only about 4,000 ATACMS have been manufactured since 1980. Photograph: US Army via The New York Times
The medium-range missiles delivered last year, and some of the long-range ones sent recently, carry cluster munitions that open in the air when fired, releasing hundreds of bombs rather than a single warhead. Others sent recently have a single warhead.
Another critical factor in the March decision to send the weapons was the U.S. Army’s ability to begin replacing aging ATACMS. The Army is now purchasing the Precision Strike missile, so it is more comfortable taking ATACMS off the shelves to supply it to Ukraine, one of the sources said.
American military officials say the United States’ ATACMS arsenal is relatively small, and the missiles were intended for other Pentagon war plans in places such as the Korean Peninsula. Only about 4,000 ATACMS have been manufactured since the missile was developed in the 1980s, according to Lockheed Martin, the system’s manufacturer./Associated Press and The New York Times.
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