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THE United States has secretly supplied Ukraine with long-range missiles in recent weeks and Kiev’s military has now used them twice against Russian forces, a US official has admitted.
The Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) were part of a $300 million (£240.2m) military aid package for Ukraine that President Joe Biden approved on March 12, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity on Wednesday night.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed to reporters that a “significant number” of the weapons had been supplied to Ukraine, adding that “we will send more now that we have additional authority and money.”
More of the missiles were contained in the latest $61 billion (£48.8bn) aid package for Ukraine that Mr Biden approved on Wednesday, he said.
Mr Sullivan claimed that Kiev had pledged to use the weapons only inside Ukraine, not in Russia.
However, the official said that when the missiles were used for the first time on April 17, they were fired at a Russian airfield in Crimea, which has been under Moscow's rule since 2014 — long before the current Russian invasion began in February 2022.
Ukraine used the weapon a second time overnight, targeting Russian forces in the country’s south-east, the official added.
For months, the US held back from sending Ukraine the ATACMS with a range up to 300km out of concern that Kiev could use them to strike deep in Russian territory, escalating the conflict. Mid-range ATACMS were supplied last September.
With the latest US aid package expected to take months to make a difference, Ukraine’s general staff said yesterday that the situation at the front remained “difficult.”
In a bid to force some of many Ukrainian men who have fled abroad to return and fight, the cabinet announced on Wednesday that those aged 18 and 60 deemed fit for military service will no longer be able to renew their passports abroad.
Opposition MP Ivanna Klympush-Tsyntsadze warned that the decision could lead to “well-founded” legal challenges at the European Court of Human Rights.
