The Biden administration last month secretly shipped long-range missiles to Ukraine for the first time in the two-year war \u2014 and Kyiv has already used the weapon twice to strike deep behind Russian lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In March, the U.S. quietly approved the transfer of a number of Army Tactical Missile Systems with a range of nearly 200 miles, said a senior Biden administration official and two U.S. officials, allowing President Volodymyr Zelenskyy\u2019s forces to put at risk more Russian targets inside Ukrainian sovereign territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The administration will include additional long-range ATACMS in a new $1 billion package of military aid President Joe Biden approved on Wednesday, one of the U.S. officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The provision of the long-range version of the ATACMS ends a lengthy drama in which Ukraine clamored for years to receive the weapon, driving a wedge between Washington and Kyiv. The U.S. quietly sent the medium-range version of the missile in October, but Ukraine continued to press for a weapon that would allow it to strike farther behind Russia\u2019s lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukrainian forces have used the long-range missiles twice, first against a Russian military base in Crimea and more recently against Russian forces east of Berdyansk near the Sea of Azov, the senior administration official said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S. on Wednesday announced a new $1 billion package of weapons that will quickly be transferred to Ukraine now that Biden has signed off on the long-delayed foreign aid bill that passed the Senate this week. Among other weapons, the tranche will include Stinger anti-aircraft missiles for air defense; 155mm artillery rounds; Bradley Fighting Vehicles; Javelin anti-tank systems; and Claymore anti-personnel munitions, according to a Pentagon press release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
POLITICO first reported in March<\/a> that the U.S. was sending Ukraine a second round of a different version of ATACMS, one that travels 100 miles and carries warheads containing hundreds of cluster bombs. The senior administration official, who like others was granted anonymity to detail a sensitive decision, said the March shipment also included the long-range version, and that the missiles arrived in Ukraine this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Russian military bloggers<\/a> posted images of a strike on the Dhzankoy airbase<\/a> last week and speculated that Ukraine used ATACMS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The U.S. was initially reluctant to send ATACMS \u2014 even under sustained domestic and international pressure \u2014 due to stockpile concerns and fear of escalating the war. But Russia\u2019s increasingly brutal tactics and more American production of the long-range version convinced Biden to authorize the transfer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Biden administration warned Russia that attacking Ukraine\u2019s energy grid and using North Korean-provided missiles<\/a> would lead the U.S. to reconsider sending ATACMS to Ukraine. Those strikes continued, leading top officials \u2014 national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. C.Q. Brown \u2014 to unanimously recommend the weapons transfer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Biden administration believes providing ATACMS can give Ukraine some new momentum in the two-year war, forcing Russia to move back critical command and control nodes and other high-value targets such as aviation assets, said the second U.S. official.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The long-range strategic missiles will also allow Ukraine to hold key parts of Crimea at risk, the official said. That includes the Kerch Bridge connecting occupied Crimea to Russia, as well as ports and naval facilities in the peninsula from which Russia\u2019s Black Sea Fleet operates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The official acknowledged that Ukraine is still in a tough fight, and that Russia continues to throw manpower and resources at the battlefield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s no silver bullet weapon that\u2019s going to change the character of the battlefield,\u201d the official said, but: \u201cUkraine\u2019s got something in their toolkit that they can use at a time in place of their choosing, that creates impact, that gives them an advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Biden approved the ATACMS decision in mid-February, the official said, but had to wait for the funding battle over the supplemental to play out in Congress. The House finally green-lighted more than $61 billion in Ukraine funding on Saturday and the Senate followed suit Tuesday, sending it to Biden\u2019s desk for his signature on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In early March, however, Pentagon officials alerted colleagues that cost savings on other weapons contracts and humming production lines allowed the U.S. to deliver long-range ATACMS before the supplemental\u2019s passage. The weapons were then secretly sent as part of a $300 million tranche of military aid announced in March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Biden last year approved sending the medium-range version of the missile<\/a> but was still reluctant to send the long-range type Ukraine wanted. The U.S. secretly shipped the medium-range weapon, called Anti-Personnel\/Anti-Material, and Ukraine used it for the first time last fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But now having long-range ATACMS in its arsenal allows Ukraine to threaten Russian assets inside the whole of Crimea as well as the Black Sea Fleet. The transfer could also boost morale among Ukrainian troops increasingly fearful that they have lost the advantage in the fight<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n