Ukrainian forces will be able to use a coveted, recently delivered long-range missile system to more effectively attack Russian forces in occupied Crimea, senior Pentagon officials said Thursday.
After months of requests, Ukraine has received a longer-range version of the military’s tactical missile systems, known as ATACMS, that can travel 190 miles. Prior to delivery this month, the United States had supplied Ukraine with a version of the system that has a range of 100 miles and is armed with highly dispersible cluster munitions.
Much of the long-delayed arms deliveries would have to initially focus on bolstering Ukraine’s defenses, U.S. national security officials said. The new system can reach deeper into Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine and target supply nodes for Russian forces in the southeast.
The goal of the new, longer-range systems is to put more pressure on Crimea, a hub for Russian air and ground forces, “where, at the moment, Russia has had a relatively safe haven,” a senior defense official told reporters. during a press conference. at the Pentagon on Thursday.
Pentagon officials declined to specify the exact number of long-range systems that were sent to Ukraine. The Biden administration secretly sent the longer-range ATACMS to avoid alerting the Russians. They were part of a $300 million shipment announced in March and was the first new aid package for the country since funding ran out at the end of December. Congress this week approved a new round of military assistance to Ukraine.
Ukraine used longer-range missiles overnight Tuesday to attack Russian troops in the port city of Berdiansk, a senior U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters. Social media accounts in Ukraine reported large fires and explosions last week at a military airfield in Dzhankoi, Crimea, which two US officials said was a long-range ATACMS target. In a speech that night, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine thanked Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, the top military commander, but did not elaborate on the attack.
“One of the things we have been able to see is that when supplying Ukraine, they have been able to be effective,” Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a statement. Moderated conversation at Georgetown University’s Institute of Politics and Private Service on Thursday.
President Biden’s decision in February to send more than 100 long-range systems to Ukraine was a major policy change. His administration had previously avoided sending them out of fear that kyiv would use the systems to attack targets in Russia, which could further escalate the conflict.
But more than two years after Russia’s invasion and occupation of Ukraine, Biden’s calculations have changed, administration officials said. As Congress spent months considering another aid package for Ukraine, its troops ran out of ammunition and equipment and lost territory to a slow but steady Russian advance.