Vladimir Putin has been given a taste of his own medicine as Ukraine has used long-range missiles against Russia for the first time, US defence officials revealed.
Kremlin missiles have rained down on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine for almost the entire length of the war. But now it’s been reported Ukraine has fired back with its newly acquired Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS).
The playing field-levelling kit is part of a massive package of US, British and Allied aid that is now being ploughed into Ukraine as Russia threatens to make significant gains on the eastern front line.
According to the BBC, US President Joe Biden secretly gave the green light to supplying the 186-mile-range missiles back in February and it’s now emerged they have been used in at least one strike on Russian-occupied Crimea.
Previously the US and Britain and others had been cautious about supplying longer-range ordnance to Ukraine for fear of widening the conflict, but now it appears the tactics have changed.
A state department spokesman said the US “did not announce this (the delivery of the missiles) at the onset in order to maintain operational security for Ukraine at their request”.
But the BBC reports US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Washington was planning to send more of the missiles. He added: “They will make a difference. But as I’ve said before at this podium, there is no silver bullet.”
In response to the delivery of the ATACMS the Kremlin scoffed that the weapons “will not fundamentally change the outcome of the special military operation”.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov added: “We will succeed. But it will cause more problems for Ukraine itself.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky has said “the key now is speed” in getting the supplies into place. Ukrainian forces have run desperately short of artillery ammunition and air defence missiles during six months in which the US aid was held up by wrangling in Congress.
That has allowed the Kremlin’s forces to inch forward in parts of eastern Ukraine in what has largely become a war of attrition. Ukraine’s general staff said today that the situation at the front remained “difficult.”
On a visit to Kyiv this week Chancellor Jeremy Hunt urged all NATO countries to increase defence spending to 2.5 percent of GDP to help Ukraine and “pile the pressure” on Russian president Vladimir Putin.
He told President Zelensky during Wednesday’s visit that the UK would maintain at least its current level of military support, some £3 billion pounds in 2024, for “as long as it takes.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced £500 million pounds in new aid for Ukraine, including ammunition, vehicles, boats and 1,600 strike and air defence missiles.
