Will their delivery turn the conflict towards Russia? The United States sent long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine “this month”, even before the adoption of new aid to kyiv by the American Congress on Tuesday, the State Department announced on Wednesday.
The shipment was made “at the direct request of President” Joe Biden in February, said Vedant Patel, a State Department spokesperson, adding that the missiles, which were part of the latest aid package Ukraine sent on March 12, had “arrived in Ukraine this month”.
The inclusion of the missiles in that March package was not announced at that time “in order to maintain operational security for Ukraine at its request,” the spokesperson said.
Range of 300 km
Placed on the market in 1991, these missiles were widely used in the Gulf War, then during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. In the United States, they are gradually being replaced by the “Precision strike missile” model. .
The ATACMS missiles, also called MGM-140 and pronounced “attack’ems’” by American soldiers, were eagerly awaited by Volodymyr Zelensky’s soldiers. And for good reason, they have a much greater range than the missiles that Ukraine had until now. On some of its versions the ATACMS missile has a range of 300 km. Ukraine could thus easily reach cunning bases.
Risk of conflict intensification
Their arrival on the front constitutes a major turning point. In July 2022, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan expressed his opposition to such a delivery, fearing that it would push Russia to intensify the conflict.
Since 2022, Ukraine has had rocket launchers capable of firing ATACMS missiles, M142 HIMARS. However, according to revelations from the Wall Street Journal, the Pentagon modified these rocket launchers before sending them to kyiv so that they could not fire long-range missiles.
Ukraine used American ATACMS missiles against Russia for the first time in October, but those sent recently have a longer range.