The United States supplied Ukraine with potent extended-range ballistic missiles for the first time earlier this month, and its armed forces have already employed them twice in the past week against Russian forces, as per three U.S. officials.
The inaugural strike occurred approximately 100 miles within Crimea's border on the morning of April 17, targeting a Russian military airfield, according to the officials. Subsequently, the Ukrainian military utilized the ATACMS provided by the U.S. for the second time on Tuesday night, aiming at Russian forces east of the southeastern Ukrainian town of Berdyansk in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, officials stated.
Although the Biden administration had not publicly acknowledged sending ATACMS to Ukraine previously, a spokesperson from the National Security Council confirmed the U.S. provision. These missiles were part of the $300 million military aid package announced on March 12.
The NSC spokesperson indicated that the administration opted not to disclose the provision of long-range missiles to Ukraine at the time due to operational security concerns. President Joe Biden instructed his national security team to clandestinely send the ATACMS to Ukraine, the spokesperson affirmed.
These formidable missiles boast a range of up to 300 kilometers (approximately 187 miles), enabling Ukraine to target the Russian military across Crimea and in occupied regions of eastern Ukraine that were previously challenging to access. The ATACMS provided by the U.S. included warheads equipped with both cluster munitions and unitary blast fragmentation.
The disclosure of Ukraine's utilization of the long-range ATACMS coincided with Biden signing into law a foreign aid package, providing billions of dollars in weaponry and assistance to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. The legislation, allocating approximately $61 billion for Ukraine, had been stalled for months due to opposition in the Republican-led House.
According to two U.S. officials familiar with the planning, the Biden administration had already been preparing a military aid package for Ukraine worth over $1 billion. This package encompasses various equipment already furnished to Ukraine by the U.S., including ammunition, stinger missiles, artillery rounds, infantry fighting vehicles, and other military gear.
In February, NBC News first reported the Biden administration's plans to supply ATACMS to Ukraine.
Towards the end of last year, the U.S. commenced supplying Ukraine with these missiles, but hitherto restricted the shipments to older medium-range models due to concerns that extracting the longer-range variants from U.S. stockpiles might jeopardize military readiness. In early February, the U.S. Army proposed a plan to procure new ATACMS directly from the industry and dispatch those in storage to Ukraine, a plan which the Biden administration approved.
Moreover, the White House concealed its decision to dispatch medium-range ATACMS in 2023, only acknowledging it after Ukraine deployed them in combat. Administration officials cited operational security as the rationale behind the secrecy.
Over the past two years, the Biden administration had resisted dispatching the long-range missiles due to apprehensions that Ukraine might utilize them to target inside Crimea or Russia, potentially provoking Russian President Vladimir Putin to escalate the conflict. Similar concerns have been voiced by White House and Pentagon officials regarding other sophisticated weaponry, yet they repeatedly opted to provide them to Ukraine.
However, after multiple warnings to Russia went unheeded, including admonitions against employing long-range weapons within Ukraine and cease attacks on Ukrainian energy grids, the White House decided to equip Ukraine with similar capabilities.
An NSC spokesperson stated that Biden directed his team to dispatch the ATACMS following reports that North Korea supplied Russia with ballistic missiles, subsequently utilized in Ukraine, and in light of Russia's repeated assaults on civilian infrastructure within Ukraine.
The U.S. imposed restrictions on the utilization of the long-range systems, specifying that they cannot be employed to target inside Russia and must be confined to sovereign Ukrainian territory, which, according to the U.S. government, encompasses Crimea.
During testimony before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense last week, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin cautioned that without funding for additional weapons for Ukraine, Russia would gain the upper hand.
"We're witnessing the Ukrainians face challenges in maintaining their position—they're doing a commendable job, a credible job—but to sustain that, they require the appropriate materials, munitions, and weaponry," Austin asserted.
An NSC spokesperson asserted that additional military aid would bolster Ukraine on the battlefield, though it alone cannot alter the course of the conflict. Ukraine faces dwindling supplies of munitions and equipment, while Russia continues to unleash waves of drones and missiles, the spokesperson added.
In an appearance on NBC News' "Meet the Press" on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed confidence that the new aid would enhance the country's prospects for "victory" as it defends itself against Russia.
"I believe this support will significantly strengthen our armed forces, hopefully, and we'll have a chance at victory if Ukraine indeed receives the weapons systems, which we urgently need and which thousands of soldiers are in dire need of," he remarked.
