While Kiev boasted Tuesday that it had successfully deployed these missiles for the first time, the Russian ambassador to the United States cautioned that the United States' decision to equip Ukraine with long-range ATACMS missiles in secret was "a serious error" with enormous ramifications.
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| ATACMS missiles |
The deployment of long-range ATACMS missiles was revealed by Kiev on Tuesday, prompting Russia to denounce the United States' choice to provide Ukraine with these weapons covertly on Wednesday, October 18.
Sending long-range missiles to the Ukrainians was a disastrous choice on the part of the White House. Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov responded in a press statement, "The consequences of this measure, which was deliberately hidden from the public, will be very serious."
On Tuesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine has fired American long-range ATACMS missiles toward Russia for the first time. We are carrying on the commitments we made to Vice President (Joe) Biden. In his daily televised address, the Ukrainian president expressed his delight that the ATACMS were being put into such accurate operation.
Nonetheless, Volodymyr Zelensky did not detail when or where his troops had used these missiles.
With a maximum range of 165 kilometers, Washington said that ATACMS would "significantly boost" Ukrainian military capabilities and "give them (...) the ability to strike in depth" against Russian rear lines.
Russian sources have guaranteed that the Ukrainian army used these long-range surface-to-surface missiles during the night of Monday into Tuesday, coinciding with the formal announcement of the arrival of the ATACMS in Ukraine.
A member of the Russian-backed government in Ukraine's Zaporizhia region, Vladimir Rogov, said on Telegram that "M74 cluster submunitions from the American ATACMS missile had been found in Berdyansk."
This city in southern Ukraine was the target of a nocturnal attack by the Ukrainian military, as alluded to by the official. Earlier on Tuesday, Ukrainian special forces claimed responsibility for nocturnal attacks on Russian army airfields in Luhansk and Berdyansk, both of which are located in Russian-occupied territory.
According to a statement posted on Telegram by Ukrainian special forces, the operation named "Dragonfly" resulted in the destruction of takeoff runways, nine helicopters, an anti-aircraft system, and a storage full of weapons.
They did not show footage of the bombs or their aftermath on television. Russia's military hasn't said anything yet, but Moscow seldom talks about its own casualties.
According to the Russian military-friendly Telegram channels Rybar and WarGonzo, an airfield in Berdiansk was hit by ATACMS missiles, although the amount of the damage was not specified.
Without addressing this particular event, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his satisfaction on Tuesday that his troops had struck Russian supply lines while waging an extremely tough counter-offensive to free the seized territory.
"I am grateful to those who destroy the logistics and bases of the occupier on our territory," Assad added in a statement, further thanking his Western partners for delivering "effective" weaponry.
On Sunday, Russia claimed that Russian troops had advanced on the Ukrainian front near the town of Avdiivka in the Donetsk area. This city represents Ukrainian resistance to Russian aggression since 2014, therefore its surrender would be a symbolic win for Moscow.
For months, Ukraine has been demanding that the European Union and the United States boost shipments of longer-range missiles so that they may target the Russians deep behind the front and destroy their supply line.
However, the West has only provided a limited amount of these bombs so far out of concern that Ukraine may use them to launch direct attacks on Russian territory, similar to the way it now uses its own drones.
Local officials in southeastern Ukraine announced on Wednesday that two deaths and three injuries were caused by new Russian missile attacks on the city of Zaporizhia.