Ukraine's military reportedly deployed long-range ballistic missiles secretly supplied by the United States against Russian forces for the first time.
The weapons were used during a bombing on a Russian military airfield in Crimea last week, as well as during an overnight strike against Russian targets in another occupied area of Ukraine, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday, citing U.S. officials.
One official told the AP that President Joe Biden approved the delivery of the long-range Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) in early March.
The Context
Ukrainian officials have long requested ATACMS from their Western allies. The United States had been hesitant to provide long-range weapons to Kyiv due to fears that such a move would constitute crossing one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's "red lines," meaning it could lead to Putin responding with an escalation to the war.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has been struggling in recent weeks with a shortage of weapons and ammunition while U.S. aid stalled in Congress. However, the Senate on Tuesday passed a foreign aid package that the House of Representatives approved in four bills on Saturday, including $61 billion in aid for Ukraine.
What We Know
U.S. Department of Defense spokesperson Major Charlie Dietz confirmed to Voice of America that the U.S. had provided Ukraine with ATACMS in March, but he did not confirm if more of the long-range weapons are expected to be included in the aid package just passed by Congress.
Newsweek reached out to the U.S. Department of Defense and the Kremlin via email on Wednesday for comment.
Views
In an interview with the AP, Admiral Christopher Grady, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said long-range weapons would not be used by Ukraine on the front lines but rather against Russian logistics nodes.
"I think the time is right, and the boss (Biden) made the decision [that] the time is right to provide these based on where the fight is right now," Grady told the news agency. "I think it was a very well-considered decision, and we really wrung it out—but again, any time you introduce a new system, any change—into a battlefield, you have to think through the escalatory nature of it."
Ukrainian journalist Illia Ponomarenko questioned why Ukraine had not been given ATACMS sooner.
"Why couldn't this be done two years ago, when so many good sons and daughters of Ukraine were still alive and we had a much, much better chance of defeating Russia's aggression?" Ponomarenko wrote Wednesday on X, formerly Twitter.
What's Next
As of press time, the Kremlin has not commented on the reported use of U.S.-supplied ATACMS against Russian forces.
While it's not clear if more ATACMS are soon headed to Ukraine, Biden on Wednesday said the U.S. will start sending military equipment to Ukraine within "a few hours" after he signed the new foreign aid package.
Update 04/24/24, 2:20 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Jon Jackson is an Associate Editor at Newsweek based in New York. His focus is on reporting on the Ukraine ... Read more
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