“I can confirm that the United States delivered long-range ATACMS to Ukraine at the direct direction of the President,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.
The weapons were part of an aid package for Ukraine in March, but “we didn’t announce it at first to maintain operational security at Ukraine’s request,” Patel said, adding that “the missiles arrived in Ukraine this month.”
The Ukrainian army used the missiles for the first time last week, referring to US officials, according to the news agencies “Reuters” and “Associated Press”.
Officials told The Associated Press that a significant number of ATACMS were delivered, and more missiles will be delivered in a new military aid package announced by the Pentagon on Wednesday.
The Ukrainian army first used missiles on the morning of April 17 against a Russian airfield in Crimea.
The Pentagon initially opposed the transfer of ATACMS to Ukraine, fearing that removing the missiles from the US arsenal would harm the combat readiness of the US military and that Ukraine could use them to attack targets deep inside Russia.
However, the US changed its stance after Russia used North Korean-supplied ballistic missiles against Ukraine in December and January. In addition, the US also took into account that the target of Russian attacks is the critical infrastructure of Ukraine.
“We warned Russia about these things. They have resumed their attacks,” one of the officials added.
CONTEXT:
On Saturday, April 20, the US House of Representatives voted on a bill to provide long-delayed aid to Ukraine. After approval by the House of Representatives, the bill was approved by the Senate and signed by President Joe Biden.
The support in the lower house of Congress has cleared the biggest obstacle to Biden’s request for funding for aid to Ukraine, which the president first raised in October as Ukraine’s arms stockpile began to run out.
The United States has long supported Ukraine in its war against Russia, but the House Republican faction has more critical members who objected to the amount of aid given to Ukraine. It was they who had delayed Washington’s support for Kyiv for months.
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