Ukraine’s military has used US-provided long-range ATACMS missiles for the first time, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who said they were deployed on the battlefield against Russia and “executed very accurately”.
“Today, special thanks to the United States. Our agreements with President Biden are being implemented,” Zelenskiy said, adding that the missiles “have proven themselves”.
The White House also confirmed the delivery of the missiles. “We believe these ATACMS will provide a significant boost to Ukraine’s battlefield capabilities without risking our [US] military readiness,” said a National Security Council spokesperson, Adrienne Watson.
Several US media outlets reported that Ukraine had used the ATACMS missiles in an overnight attack on Tuesday on two airbases in Russian-held territory.
Without mentioning the US missiles, Ukrainian special forces said they had carried out an overnight operation named “Dragonfly” striking a military airfield in Berdiansk and another one in the Luhansk region and resulting in “significant losses” on the Russian side.
In the statement, Ukraine said it had successfully destroyed nine Russian military helicopters, an anti-aircraft missile system and an ammunition warehouse.
The Washington Post reported that the ATACMS version used by Ukraine to hit the targets was armed with cluster bomblets, rather than a single warhead.
“ATACMS is already with us,” a Ukrainian official, Oleksiy Goncharenko, tweeted on Tuesday, posting a picture that allegedly showed ATACMS debris in Berdiansk.
“Thanks to our partners!” he wrote.
Ukraine has for months been lobbying the US for ATACMS, which can strike targets 100 miles or more away. But Washington was initially reluctant to supply the missiles, as the country’s own stockpile is limited and because of fears Russia could accuse the west of escalation.
Moscow had warned that providing the system to Kyiv would cross a “red line” and make the US “a party to the conflict”, but there were signs US officials were gradually shifting their view.
Last month, Joe Biden reportedly told Zelenskiy in a private meeting that a small number of the weapons would be transferred to Ukraine.
The US state department on Tuesday said it could not confirm the reports and referred questions on military operations to the Ukraine government.
Russia is yet to comment on the overnight strikes, which were widely reported by Russian military bloggers.
Fighterbomber, a Telegram channel with close links to Russia’s air force, described the latest attack “as one of the most serious strikes … if not the most serious” on Russian aviation in the roughly 20-month conflict.
“There are losses in both people and equipment,” the channel added.
While the number of ATACMS missiles transferred to Ukraine and their range remains unknown, the transfer will undoubtedly be seen in Ukraine as a significant boost to Kyiv’s capacity to target Russian military logistics at long-range distances.
“A new chapter of this war has (un)officially begun,” tweeted Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to the Ukrainian president.
“There are no more safe places for Russian troops within the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine. This means that there is no possibility of retaining the South, Crimea, and the Black Sea Fleet in the medium term,” Podolyak wrote.
Kyiv’s strike on the two airports comes days after Russia launched a surprise offensive on the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka, which reportedly resulted in serious losses for Moscow’s forces.
Ukraine’s own counteroffensive in the south of the country has been difficult, with Kyiv struggling to expand a breach of Russia’s first defensive line near Zaporizhzhia.