ATACMS can hit targets up to 300 kilometers away and would allow Ukraine to reach military sites on Russian territory. Until now, the Biden administration has refused to authorize their use across the border with Russia.
The United States made a shock announcement this Sunday, November 17, authorizing Ukraine to strike Russian territory with long-range missiles provided by Washington. These are the MGM-140 ATACMS (Army TActical Missile System) long-range ballistic surface-to-surface missiles capable of hitting a target up to 300 kilometers away.
If kyiv already had certain models at its disposal, it did not until now have authorization to use them on the territory of the Russian Federation. The country could only use them to strike Russian targets in occupied parts of Ukraine, including annexed Crimea, and in Russian border regions directly linked to Moscow’s combat operations.
Up to 300 kilometers
In October 2023, a first American salvo of these missiles was delivered to kyiv, but their range was limited to 165 kilometers. Those announced this Sunday can hit targets located 300 kilometers away. Stealthy, they travel at a speed close to that of sound.
Placed on the market in 1991, these missiles were widely used in the Gulf War, then during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. They are notably equipped with a specialized GPS system, which could allow the Ukrainian army to reach Russian military bases on their territory.
As the New York Time explains, these American-made ATACMS missiles are filled with 170kg of explosives.
A long-standing request
During the first delivery in October 2023, Moscow had already denounced a serious error by the Americans. Vladimir Putin warned that authorization to use these missiles on Russian soil would mean that “the NATO countries are at war with Russia”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had been asking for these missiles and this authorization for months. Joe Biden thus accedes to a long-standing request from kyiv shortly before his departure from the White House and the return of Donald Trump, very critical of American aid to Ukraine.
At the start of the year, several of these missiles had already been delivered to kyiv, without the United States disclosing the number.
Western countries divided on the subject
The U.S. move could push other allies to follow suit. The United Kingdom and France have already sent air-launched cruise missiles to Ukraine which, so far, have hit Russian targets in Crimea and the Black Sea, recalls the New York Time.
These missiles, known as Storm Shadow and Scalp, have a range of about 250 kilometers and were fired by Ukraine’s aging fleet of Soviet and Russian-designed fighter jets.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose country is the second largest supplier of military aid to Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, tirelessly refuses to provide the long-range Taurus missiles requested by kyiv. .
The American missiles should initially be used in the Russian border region of Kursk, where North Korean soldiers have been deployed in support of Russian troops, according to the New York Times, which cites American officials speaking under cover of anonymity.
