Ukraine uses US-supplied ATACMS Missiles for the 1st time
The MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System is a tactical ballistic missile manufactured by the US defense company Lockheed Martin. It uses solid propellant, is 13 feet high and 24 inches in diameter, and the longest range variants can fly up to 190 miles.
By DailyNews Ug
His comments follow reports the weapons, known as ATACMS, destroyed nine helicopters at Russian bases in the east of the country. Ukraine has not confirmed the missiles were used.
Ukraine said an air defence system and other equipment were among the targets hit in Berdyansk and Luhansk.
Dozens of Russian troops were killed or injured in the operation, it added.
“They have performed very accurately. ATACMS have proven themselves,” Mr Zelensky said in an evening address posted on social media, without giving details of when or where they were used.
Russia’s military has not commented.
It said that Washington wanted to take Moscow by surprise, in case Russia moved equipment and weapons out of reach before the projectiles could be used.
Because of concerns about tensions with Russia, the missiles provided to Ukraine have a lower range than the maximum the system is capable of, according to the Associated Press.
The variant delivered to Kyiv carries cluster munitions which release hundreds of small bombs from the air rather than a single warhead, AP reported.
Cluster munitions are controversial and are banned by more than 100 states due to their threat to civilians.
Vladimir Rogov, the Russian-appointed governor of the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia region, said air defence systems “successfully intercepted enemy rockets” over Berdyansk, adding that information about casualties and damage was being checked and would be provided later.
Another Russian blogger has written of an attack on an airfield with ATACMS rockets, inflicting what the author described as a “serious blow”, with losses of people and technology.
ATACMS did not appear in a list of military aid for Kyiv published by the US in September.
But unverified pictures posted on social media Tuesday suggest the Russian bases were hit using the early MGM-140A variant of ATACMS – a shorter-range version of the family of weapons with a striking distance of around 100 miles (160km).
In particular the contract number stamped on the side points towards a contract for missiles that was due to be completed by 1997.
Kyiv gaining the ATACMS systems represents a significant boost to its abilities to strike deeper into Russian-held territory.
