Ukraine has used US long-range ATACMS missiles for the first time against Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Tuesday.
“Today, special thanks to the United States. Our agreements with President Biden are being implemented,” Zelenskyy said in his daily address published on social media, adding that the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles had proven their worth.
A White House spokeswoman said on Tuesday that the long-range missiles would significantly boost Ukrainian military capabilities, without jeopardising US response capability.
The United States has supplied missiles with a maximum range of 165 kilometres that give Ukraine the ability to strike deep at Russian targets on its own territory, Adrienne Watson, spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, said in a brief statement.
Neither the United States nor Ukraine had previously officially announced the delivery of these American missiles to Kyiv.
The announcements came as Russian sources said on Tuesday that the Ukrainian army had used the long-range ground-to-ground missiles during the night.
Vladimir Rogov, an official of the Russian occupation in Ukraine’s Zaporijjia region, stated on Telegram that “M74 cluster submunitions from the American ATACMS missile were found in Berdiansk.”
The official was referring to a Ukrainian night strike on the airfield of the southern Ukrainian town.
Earlier on Tuesday, Ukrainian special forces had claimed to have carried out destructive overnight strikes against two Russian army airfields in Lugansk and Berdiansk, in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine.
The operation, dubbed ‘Dragonfly,’ resulted in the destruction of runways, nine helicopters, an anti-aircraft system and an ammunition warehouse, according to a statement posted on Telegram by the Ukrainian forces.
The Ukrainians did not publish any images of the strikes or their results. The Russian army made no comment, but Moscow rarely mentions its own losses.
