US secretly supplied Ukraine with ATACMS it used to strike on air bases
Pravda Ukraine
The Ukrainian forces used long-range ATACMS missiles for the strikes on two airbases in the occupied cities of Berdiansk and Luhansk on the night of 16-17 October.
Source: The Wall Street Journal and Politico with reference to “informed sources”, as reported by European Pravda
According to WSJ, during the last few days the US have secretly sent “a small number of missiles” to Ukraine. The sources do not disclose other details, but it was specified that the modification of the ATACMS received by Ukraine has a range of about 160 km.
Earlier on 17 October, the Special Operation Forces of Ukraine confirmed the strike on the airbases in the temporarily occupied cities of Berdiansk and Luhansk, which caused the destruction of nine Russian helicopters with different modifications, an air defence launcher and an ammunition storage.
For months Ukraine has been asking the US to provide it with long-range armament in order to strike the targets of the Russians in their rear but Washington refused due to concerns about escalation from Russia’s side and deficit of such missiles for the American military.
The UK and France however provided Kyiv with their own Storm Shadow/SCALP long-range missiles back in the summer, which the Ukrainian forces were efficiently using on the temporarily occupied territories, mainly in Crimea.
In September, according to the media, US President Joe Biden informed Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the meeting in the White House that Washington will hand over a small number of ATACMS missiles to help in the war with Russia. It has not been officially announced.
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