The United States of America has authorized Ukraine to use long-range ATACMS missiles to strike military targets of the Russian occupation forces in the temporarily occupied Crimea. This was reported by The New York Times with reference to representatives of the US Department of Defense.
One of the goals of the transfer of long-range systems to Kyiv is to put more pressure on Crimea. The Ukrainian Defense Forces have already used these weapons twice, one of which was a strike on the airfield in Dzhankoy.
“Ukrainian forces will be able to use the newly delivered long-range missile system they covet to more effectively target Russian forces in occupied Crimea,” The New York Times quotes a Pentagon official as saying.
According to White House national security advisers, the missile systems could penetrate deeper into the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine and target Russian troop supply hubs in the southeast, the newspaper writes.
The purpose of the long-range systems is to put more pressure on Crimea, where Russian air and ground forces are concentrated, “where Russia now has a relatively safe haven,” a senior defense ministry official told reporters.
The Pentagon refused to specify the exact number of long-range systems that were sent to Ukraine.
The Biden administration secretly sent the longer-range ATACMS to avoid alerting the Russians. They were part of a $300 million shipment announced in March, the first new aid package for the country since funding ran out in late December.
President Biden’s decision in February to send long-range systems to Ukraine was a major policy shift. Previously, his administration had been reluctant to send them because of concerns that Kyiv would use them to attack targets in Russia, which could lead to further escalation of the conflict.
But in the more than two years since Russia’s invasion and occupation of Ukraine, Mr. Biden’s calculations have changed, administration officials say.