The weapons, which can hit targets up to 300 kilometers away, have already been used twice.
The United States quietly sent long-range ballistic missiles to Ukraine in March as part of a military support package, and Ukraine has used those weapons twice, according to U.S. officials.
The longer-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) can hit targets up to 300 km (186 miles), almost twice the range of the medium-range ATACMS that the US began sending out late last year.
Washington has long been reluctant to provide Ukraine with longer-range weapons because of fears they could be used on targets deep in Russian territory and escalate the conflict.
But in February, Biden approved delivery of the missiles and a “significant” number were included in a $300 million relief package announced the following month, officials said.
“We have already sent some, we will send more,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters.
State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said the delivery was not announced “in order to maintain operational security at Ukraine’s request.” None of the officials confirmed the number of ATACMS sent.
Ukraine has been forced to ration its weapons as the passage of a $61 billion military aid package took a long time and was finally passed in the United States this week. ATACMS is expected to be included in the first $1 billion tranche of this aid package.
The weapons sent this month were used on April 17 to attack an airfield in Dzhankoy, Crimea, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014. They were also used this week against Russian forces in southeastern Ukraine, near the occupied city of Berdyansk.
“It’s time”
Adm. Christopher Grady, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the White House and military planners had carefully considered the risks of supplying long-range weapons to Ukraine and concluded it was the right time.
The weapons were sent on the condition that they could only be used within Ukrainian territory.
“I think the time is right, and the boss [President Biden] “I’ve made the decision that it’s time to provide this depending on where the fight is at,” Grady said.
A US official told Reuters that Russia’s use of long-range ballistic missiles supplied by North Korea against Ukraine in December and January had led to a change of heart.
Russia’s ongoing attacks on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure also raised concerns.
“We warned Russia about these things,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “They have renewed their focus.”
The protracted delay in U.S. funding and arms deliveries has given Russia scope to exploit its advantage in firepower and personnel to step up attacks on the front line in eastern Ukraine, where it reportedly took control of a number of settlements this month . It is increasingly using satellite-guided glide bombs, dropped from aircraft from a safe distance, to attack Ukrainian forces.
Ukrainian officials have not publicly confirmed receipt or deployment of long-range ATACMS.
But as he thanked Congress for passing the new aid bill, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized the importance of such weapons to the war effort.
“Ukraine’s long-range capabilities, its artillery and its air defense are extremely important tools for the rapid restoration of a just peace,” he wrote on the social media platform X.