The USA has sent Ukraine about 20 ATACMS missiles, one of the conditions of provision is the ban on using them for attacks on the territory of russia.
This is announced by the New York Times, Ukrainian News Agency reports.
"After numerous reports that a decision had been made to supply the weapons, their delivery was carried out in secret due to fears that they could be attacked by russia when they were brought into the country. In addition, Ukraine wanted to try to catch the russians off guard. Two Western officials said, that the United States sent about 20 missiles to Ukraine," the NYT reports.
According to an informed American official, on October 17, Ukraine used ATACMS missiles to strike two air bases in the occupied territory.
The ATACMS missiles provided to the Ukrainians, according to US officials, are cluster munitions that scatter 950 small bombs capable of causing damage over a large area.
Weapons of this type are prohibited by an international treaty that the United States is not a signatory to.
"It is currently unclear how much this missile system will change the situation on the battlefield; other weapons provided by the West, including tanks, have provided only a marginal advantage in a war that has dragged on for months. And the version of the missile sent by the United States, the last major system, which Ukraine wanted from the US, has a limited range of action," the NYT notes.
At the same time, US officials said that it was enough to reach almost all the main bases that russia used for air support and supply of its troops in Ukraine.
One of the conditions set for the Ukrainians is that the ATACMS cannot be used to attack russian territory, one US official said.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on September 22, NBC News reported with reference to its own sources in Congress that the United States will provide Ukraine with a small batch of ATACMS missiles.
On the morning of October 17, it became known that the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed nine helicopters, air defense systems and special equipment during Operation DRAGONFLY at airfields in temporarily occupied Berdiansk and Luhansk.
The russian military correspondents published photos of unexploded submunitions at the Berdiansk airfield and claimed they were parts of ATACMS missiles.
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