Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Tuesday said that Ukraine’s armed forces had used US-supplied Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) long-range missiles for the first time.
“They have performed very accurately. ATACMS have proven themselves,” he said in an evening address posted on social media, without giving details of when or where they were used.
The White House confirmed the delivery for the first time in an official statement.
Photo: Reuters
“We believe these ATACMS will provide a significant boost to Ukraine’s battlefield capabilities without risking our [US] military readiness,” US National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement.
ATACMS have a maximum range of about 300km, but Watson said the version “recently” sent to Ukraine had a lower range of 165km.
“Today, a special thanks to the United States,” Zelenskiy said in a video message. “Our agreements with [US] President [Joe] Biden are being implemented.”
Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov yesterday criticized Washington’s decision to supply Ukraine with the long-range missiles.
“The White House’s decision to send long-range missiles to Ukrainians is a grave mistake. The consequences of this step, which was deliberately hidden from the public, will be of the most serious nature,” he said in a statement.
Earlier on Tuesday, Ukraine said that it had hit airfields in the Russian-occupied south and east of the country overnight.
Kyiv said it had destroyed nine helicopters, an air defense launcher and an ammunition warehouse, and damaged runways.
It also claimed Russian forces had suffered losses in the operation. Zelenskiy said Kyiv’s “assault operations” had achieved results.
In a mission dubbed Operation Dragonfly, Kyiv’s special forces said on social media that they had attacked airfields in southern Berdyansk and eastern Lugansk.
Russian officials had said earlier that the US-supplied missiles had been used in the attack on Berdyansk.
A Moscow-backed official in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, Vladimir Rogov, said on Telegram that fragments of ATACMS missiles had been found at the site of the strike.
Russian Telegram channel Rybar, which has close ties with Moscow’s forces, also said that ATACMS missiles were used in the attack.
Kyiv, which launched its counteroffensive against Russian forces this summer, has claimed to have carried out several operations in occupied territory.
Berdyansk fell to Russian forces early in their invasion last year. Lugansk has mostly been controlled by pro-Russia forces since 2014.
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