The State Department confirmed Wednesday that the United States had secretly sent long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine as part of the March assistance package, fulfilling a long-standing request from Kyiv.
“We did not announce this at the onset in order to maintain operational security for Ukraine at their request,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters, adding that the “missiles arrived in Ukraine this month.”
Some Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles can hit targets up to 300 kilometers away, and a Defense Department spokesperson confirmed that was the long-range variant supplied to Ukraine.
The White House said last year that the United States sent a shorter-range variant of ATACMS that can travel 165 kilometers.
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the United States plans to send more of the long-range missiles to Ukraine, but warned that “there is no silver bullet.”
The legislation Biden signed Wednesday passed after months of acrimonious debate among lawmakers over how or even whether to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s invasion, which Moscow launched in February 2022.
A similar bill passed the Senate in February.
But it stalled in the House of Representatives while Republican Speaker Mike Johnson — heeding calls from ex-president Donald Trump and his hardline allies — demanded concessions from Biden on immigration policies, before Johnson made a sudden reversal.
More Russian gains ‘possible’
The United States has been a key military backer of Ukraine, committing tens of billions of dollars in security assistance since the start of Russia’s invasion.
But a squabbling Congress had not approved large-scale funding for Kyiv for nearly a year and a half.
Ukraine’s military is facing a severe shortage of arms and recruits as Moscow exerts constant pressure from the east, and Sullivan said Wednesday that it is “certainly possible that Russia could make additional tactical gains in the coming weeks.”
The bill signed by Biden also provides for much-needed humanitarian assistance to Sudan, Haiti and Gaza, with the president calling on Israel to allow aid to quickly reach Palestinians in the war-racked coastal enclave.
“We’re going to immediately secure that aid and surge it… including food, medical supplies, clean water,” Biden said. “Israel must make sure all this aid reaches the Palestinians in Gaza without delay.”
