According to a Foreign Affairs spokesperson, the missiles arrived in Ukraine this month. According to an anonymous source, they were used in an attack on April 17 on an airfield in Russian-occupied Crimea. They have also been used against Russian forces in southeastern Ukraine.
President Joe Biden’s administration has long debated sending ATACMS long-range missiles, which have a range of 186 miles. The medium-range variant with a range of about 165 kilometers was delivered to Ukraine in September last year.
The US Department of Defense did not want to give away the missiles for its own preparedness. It was also feared that Ukraine would use it to attack Russian targets far inland.
According to an anonymous source, North Korea’s delivery of ballistic missiles to Russia was the turning point for the US. The missiles were then secretly sent as part of a military aid package that Biden approved in March. The US has now prepared a new billion-dollar package for Ukraine.
