The United States secretly shipped a new long-range missile system to Ukraine last week, and Ukrainian forces immediately used the weapons last Wednesday to attack a Russian military airfield in Crimea, and Russian forces on Tuesday night in southeastern the country, a senior US official said. officially.
The United States previously provided Ukraine with a version of the Army Tactical Missile Systems – known as ATACMS – armed with widespread cluster munitions that can travel 100 miles.
But Ukraine has long coveted the longer-range version of the system, with a range of about 300 kilometers. That could extend deeper into occupied Ukraine, including Crimea, a hub of Russian air and ground forces, and supply hubs for Moscow’s forces in the southeast of the country.
On Tuesday night, Ukraine used the longer-range missiles to attack Russian forces in the Sea of Azov port city of Berdiansk, the senior US official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters.
Last Wednesday, social media accounts in Ukraine reported major fires and explosions at a military airfield in Dzhankoi, Crimea, which the senior government official said was also a long-range ATACMS target. In a speech that evening, President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked General Oleksandr Syrsky, Ukraine’s top commander, but did not elaborate on the attack.
In a major policy shift, President Biden secretly approved in mid-February the decision to send more than a hundred longer-range missiles, the senior US official said, as well as more cluster munition variants. They were part of a $300 million arms shipment to Ukraine in March, the first new aid package for the country since funding ran out in late December.
Administration officials kept the shipment secret to avoid tipping off the Russians. When the United States has supplied long-range weapons to Ukraine in the past, the Ukrainians initially caused serious damage to Russian forces. But the Russians then withdraw their forces and weapons depots from weapons range until Ukraine can use a newly donated system with longer range. The longer-range ATACMS were among the last major weapons systems Kiev wanted, and the United States was reluctant to give up.
Mr. Biden and his top aides have dropped their reluctance to donate the longer-range missiles for several reasons, the official said. The military decided to keep more missiles rather than sell them to other countries, easing Pentagon concerns about shortages. Russia’s increasing use of ballistic missiles and more attacks on critical infrastructure also strengthened Ukraine’s case for weapons that could help counter these threats.
Additional longer-range missiles were also included in the $60.8 billion in aid for Ukraine that was part of the legislation President Biden signed on Wednesday. In praising the military aid, including the new missiles, lawmakers and Mr. Zelensky made no mention of the fact that Ukraine has already received and used a small number of these weapons, presumably to keep their use secret from Russia.
The first attack with the new missiles had a fiery impact. Videos posted online by residents last Wednesday show fires breaking out after the attack. The videos have not been independently verified. Four hours after the strike, Crimean Wind, a group that monitors local social media posts and also quotes residents, wrote that the ammunition was still detonating. They said windows were blown out in homes near the airport. The account also could not be independently verified.
Later, the Ukrainian General Staff released a video of the missile attack, detailing what Ukrainian security officials said was hit: four S-400 surface-to-air missile systems, three radar stations, an air defense command post and a Fundament-M surface-to-air missile system. defense command and control system.
The $300 million weapons package announced last month was made up of cuts on out-bid contracts and included air defense interceptors, artillery shells and armor systems, senior defense officials said.
Biden administration officials acknowledged that the March arms package was a stopgap measure at best, providing Ukraine with only a few weeks’ worth of weapons and ammunition. Ukraine is in need of air defense systems as Russia has continued its bombing of cities, especially in the east.
Key members of Congress were informed at the time that the secret shipment of ATACMS was included in that package, but Biden administration officials made no public mention that either type of ATACMS was headed to Ukraine.
But as the attacks with the longer-range weapons became public on Wednesday, advocates of sending advanced weapons to Ukraine praised their achievements.
“These attacks proved – once again – that Ukraine can achieve battlefield victories if given the right tools,” Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, said in a statement. “Ukraine can target any Russian asset in Crimea, including critical ammunition and fuel depots. Imagine if they had these missiles two years ago.”
Last week’s attack followed a number of successful Ukrainian attacks on military targets in Russia. For example, the day before the attack, the Ukrainian security service claimed to have destroyed a long-range radar located 700 kilometers beyond the Ukrainian border. But they used kamikaze-type drones produced in Ukraine.
US military officials have warned that their arsenal of ATACMS is relatively small, and that the missiles have been deployed in other Pentagon war plans, including on the Korean Peninsula. According to Lockheed Martin, the system’s manufacturer, only about 4,000 ATACMS have been manufactured since the missile was developed in the 1980s.
Still, many advocates of arming Ukraine have dismissed the Biden administration’s fears of an escalation of the conflict with Russia and urged the White House to give Kiev the weapons Ukrainian officials say they need to win .
Shortly after Ukraine launched its counteroffensive last summer, Republicans in the House of Representatives called on the Biden administration to “immediately” deploy ATACMS to Ukraine, noting that other allies such as Britain and France had already donated long-range missiles.
In recent days, Russian forces have entered several villages in eastern Ukraine, as Ukrainian troops continue to struggle to hold their lines.
Russia has quickly advanced to the outskirts of Khasiv Yar, a crucial city for Ukraine’s defense of the Donbas region. Russian forces also continued to capture villages northwest of Avdiivka, which fell to Russia in February.
Helene Kuiper contributed reporting from washington, and Marc Santora And Maria Varenikova from Kiev, Ukraine.