- Ukraine mentioned it launched US-made ATACMS on Russian airfields in occupied territory on Tuesday.
- The strikes come after the Biden administration quietly equipped Ukraine with the long-range missiles.
- Ukraine’s prime commander shared hanging footage of the ATACMS launch on Telegram.
Ukraine’s commander-in-chief of the armed forces launched the primary video footage of the nation’s new US-supplied ATACMS in motion after Ukraine carried out a sequence of assaults on airfields in Russian-occupied territory on Tuesday.
Early indicators pointed to the ATACMS, or Military Tactical Missile System, getting used within the airfield assaults in Beryansk and Luhansk on Tuesday. The US quietly equipped Ukraine with a small variety of the long-range missiles in current days following greater than a 12 months of back-and-forth.
Basic Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s prime commander, later confirmed the ATACMS performed a job in Tuesday’s assaults, posting 30 seconds of footage exhibiting the launch on his Telegram channel.
Kyiv’s protection ministry mentioned the assaults in occupied east Ukraine destroyed 9 helicopters, an air-defense launcher, automobiles, and ammunition depots. The hits, which have been a part of “Operation Dragonfly,” additionally broken airstrips, the nation mentioned.
An individual accustomed to the matter informed Insider’s Jake Epstein that Ukraine used the M39 variant within the Tuesday strikes, which have a variety of round 100 miles and carry 950 anti-personnel and anti-materiel M74 bomblets.
Ukraine had lengthy requested for the long-range missiles, which permit its forces to securely goal Russian positions located additional again with out having to method the entrance traces. Regardless of initially rejecting Ukraine’s requests, the Biden administration reportedly agreed to produce the nation with ATACMS final month.
The administration has averted providing particular particulars in regards to the supply to this point.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, nevertheless, explicitly thanked the US for the ATACMS throughout his Tuesday night tackle, saying the weapons “have confirmed themselves.”
Army consultants have mentioned the ATACMS will permit the Ukrainian forces to hit Moscow’s artillery, in addition to its provide and communication traces situated deep inside enemy territory.
