Washington: In March, the US secretly sent long-range ATACMS missiles to Kyiv
Reuters/Scanpix Photo/Launch of the ATACMS missile
The United States secretly sent long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine in March, the US State Department said on Wednesday.
“I can confirm that the United States has provided Ukraine with long-range ATACMS missiles on the direct order of the president,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.
It added that ATACMS was included in the aid package for Ukraine announced in March, but is not related to the nearly $61 billion approved by the US Congress on Tuesday. USD (€57.3 billion) military aid support to Kyiv.
V. Patelis stated that “at the request of Ukraine, this was not announced at first in order to ensure operational security”, and added that the missiles arrived in Ukraine earlier this month.
Some ATACMS can hit targets up to 300 km away. A little later, the spokesperson of the US Department of Defense confirmed that it was exactly this ATACMS missile variant that reached Ukraine.
At the end of last year, the US began supplying Ukraine with ATACMS systems, but so far only sent older medium-range missiles with a range of up to 165 km.
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Wednesday that the US plans to deliver more long-range missiles to Kyiv.
“Her [raketos] will have an impact. However, as I have said before in this forum […] there is no silver bullet, said Mr. Sullivan.
News of the ATACMS being delivered to Ukraine came as US President Joe Biden signed legislation authorizing much-needed military aid to Ukraine and announced that Washington would begin sending new aid to Kyiv within hours.
95 billion The $89.1 billion (€89.1 billion) package, which also includes aid to Israel and Taiwan and a measure that could ban the app TikTok in the US, comes after months of delays as Ukrainian forces ran out of ammunition and suffered battlefield setbacks .
