Ukraine strikes Russia using long-range missiles United States covertly provided

Ukraine has started using long-range missiles from the United States to bomb a Russian military airfield and troops in Crimea. This was confirmed by American officials on Wednesday.

Ukrainian leaders have finally got the new missiles they have been wanting for a long time. These missiles have a striking distance of up to 300 kilometers, which is almost double the range of the mid-range version they got from the US last October. One official said that the US will give more of these missiles as part of a new military aid deal signed by President Joe Biden on Wednesday.

Biden agreed to send a lot of powerful missiles to the military in February. In March, the US said they would give a lot of money to send even more of these missiles.

Two US officials, who did not want to share their names, talked about the missile delivery before it was made public. They didn’t say how many missiles were given last month or in the latest aid package, which is worth around US$1 billion.

Ukraine doesn’t have enough weapons and Russia is attacking more and more. Ukraine wanted the long-range missile system because it can help them attack Russian targets from far away, while keeping their own forces safe.

Lawmakers and other people have been asking the US to send weapons to Ukraine, but they didn’t know the weapons were already there because the delivery was kept a secret.

For many months, the US did not want to send long-range missiles to Ukraine because they were worried that Ukraine might use them to attack Russia, which would make Russia very angry and make the conflict worse. That’s why the administration sent the mid-range version in October, which can go about 160 kilometers (100 miles).

Admcould be rewritten as administrator or admiral, depending on the context. Christopher Grady, who is the second in command at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Wednesday that the White House and military planners studied the dangers of giving Ukraine long-range weapons and decided that it was the right time to give them now.

In an interview with The Associated Press, he said that Ukraine can use long-range weapons to target Russian supply points and groups of soldiers who are not at the front lines. Grady did not want to say what kind of weapons were being given, but he said they will be very powerful if used the right way, and he is sure they will be.

Like other advanced weapons given to Ukraine, the government thought about whether using them would make the conflict worse. The government is still saying that the weapons can’t be used to attack things in Russia. At the State Department, spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Wednesday that Biden told his national security team to send the ATACMS to be used in Ukrainian territory.

“I believe it’s the right time, and the boss (Biden) decided it’s the right time to offer these based on where the fight is at this moment,” Grady said on Wednesday. “I believe it was a carefully thought out decision, and we thoroughly examined it. But whenever you bring in a new system or make a change in a conflict, you need to consider how it might make things worse. ”

Ukrainian leaders have not said they received or used long-range ATACMS. However, when Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Congress for passing the new aid bill on Tuesday, he said on the social platform X that Ukraine’s long-range capabilities, artillery, and air defense are very important tools for quickly restoring a just peace.

A US official told Russia last year that if they got long-range missiles and used them in Ukraine, the US would give the same type of missiles to Ukraine.

Russia got weapons from North Korea and used them in Ukraine. This made the Biden administration approve the new long-range missiles.

The US didn’t admit to giving Ukraine long-range missiles until they were used in battle and Ukrainian leaders agreed to tell everyone about it. A government person said that the weapons were used last week to attack the airfield in Dzhankoi, a city in Crimea. Russia took control of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. They were used again overnight to the east of the city of Berdyansk, which is under occupation.

Videos on social media last week showed big explosions at the military airfield, but officials didn’t say if it was the ATACMS.

Ukraine used the weapon because Congress was taking a long time to approve a $95 billion aid package for Ukraine and other countries. Ukraine doesn’t have enough weapons, so they have to limit how much they use. They haven’t gotten the money they need from the US yet.

Now that the war has been going on for three years, Russia took advantage of the US weapons being late and their stronger firepower and army to increase attacks in eastern Ukraine. More and more, they are using bombs guided by satellites that are dropped from planes from far away to attack Ukrainian forces who don’t have enough soldiers and weapons.

Last year, some missiles were given that can travel a medium distance, and more recently some long-range missiles were sent. These missiles have cluster bombs that open in the air and release lots of small bombs instead of just one big bomb. Other missiles that have been sent recently only have one warhead.

One important reason the weapons were sent in March was because the US Army could start using newer ATACMS instead of the older ones. The Army is getting new missiles and can now give its old ones to Ukraine, the official said.