The United States last week secretly shipped a new long-range missile system to Ukraine, and Ukrainian forces immediately used the weapons to attack a Russian military airfield in Crimea last Wednesday and Russian troops in the country’s southeast overnight on Tuesday, according to a senior U.S. official.
The United States previously supplied Ukraine with a version of the Army Tactical Missile Systems — known as ATACMS — armed with wide-spreading cluster munitions that can travel 100 miles.
But Ukraine has long coveted the system’s longer-range version, with a range of about 190 miles. That can reach deeper into occupied Ukraine, including Crimea, a hub of Russian air and ground forces, and supply nodes for Moscow’s forces in the country’s southeast.
Overnight Tuesday, Ukraine used the longer-range missiles to strike Russian troops in the port city of Berdiansk on the Sea of Azov, the senior U.S. official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters.
That is a big deal! I believe they were given 20 or so last year, and they were able to wreck a dozen of Russia’s best attack helicopters with them, as well as several other, less flashy, targets. And that was with the shorter range variant, the article is saying they received the longer range variant this time!
More to come!
Big deal? The Cuban missile crisis was a big deal.
It wasn’t about nukes it was about missiles. In that those missiles could carry nukes was another matter
Imagine if 2 things could be true!
If only…
At the time it was reported that there not any warheads on the missles.
‘Big deal’ is kind of an understatement for a stand-off between 2 nuclear behemoths, that at multiple points during the crisis could have ended the entire world.
And knowing what we know now… only a few sane/scared individuals may have prevented annihilation.
Ukraine getting the capability to strike at any target within the occupied territories is a pretty big deal though. If this forces the Germans into delivering Taurus it becomes an even bigger deal.
Here’s to hoping they arrive in time for the Ukranians to honor may 9th with fireworks.
Exactly.And the UK will or are supplying, and German politics won’t have an argument not to send the Taurus anymore.
The argument they have is that Taurus is programmed using proprietary Bundeswehr Software and cannot be programmed without it. So only Bundeswehr personell can do it. As the software is part of the larger systems of the Bundeswehr so they cannot just provide it to Ukraine.
And this would mean German soldiers in Ukraine and that was the line Olaf does not want to cross.
Even though rumors and later confirmation by the Germans indicate this was true for storm shadow and scalp as well… and these missiles are used by the Ukranians… So probably France and the UK have a skeleton crew in theatre to program their ordenance for the Ukranians.
Ah yes , I forgot that bit. These men on the ground are usually called instructors & maintenance crew. Germany ( Rheinmetall) and other facilititators are building factories with some self defense systems in U.A. They are called the construction crew, I reckon. Political correctness, just use the “correct” names.^^.
What has changed?
Some would/will call that a provocation.
They are already there.
A provocation? to hit Russian targets within occupied Ukranian territory?
Look, I know the Russians expected to be hailed as saviors and welcomed by the Ukranians. But they have awoken from that fairytale some time ago.
So now calling foul when your military assets start blowing up even further behind the front lines would be something I expect them to whine over… But what are they going to do?
I hope that Putin gets to see his precious bridge to crumble.
The why doesn’t matter. Remember we are talking about long range weapons to Ukraine being taken seriously. The reason is that as with what the Russians did putting missiles in Cuba, NATO is putting long range weapons in Ukraine, which can reach Russia. Russia wcan call that a provocation if it is or not. Will they attack NATO because of that? I wouldn’t think they are that stupid. But, then they did invade Ukraine.
Ukraine has been hitting deep into Russia proper all year. If Russia is so offended that hitting someone gets you hit back, they are free to leave Ukraine.
Mostly with drones.
And you have a good point since now Ukraine has established the idea of striking inside Russia, the geopolitics are less important.
Which is the point I was wanting to get to. Wars evolve through time. What was an important consideration at one point, in this case blowback, is not necessarily as important now. So many times I see people not realizing this fact.
The US giving them the missiles or the fact that they can penetrate deeper into their invaded homeland? Because the active invasion they are fighting off sounds more like provocation than either.
But,those misses can also reach across Russian borders into Russian cities. Which is clearly the reason for concern.
Using the long range NATO ordenance in Russia proper after agreeing to not do that is the quickest way to not getting any more.
Ukraine is quickly developing their own capabilities to strike into Russia, as they can then use the NATO ordenance in ukraine.
This worry is nonsense.
Here I was not worrying about it, but rather discussing the geopolitical ramifications. Silly me.
What geopolitical ramifications? It is a hypothetical that has no foundation in reality. Ukranians will not use the NATO weapons in Russia proper due to self interest. Without western support they will lose to Russia so they will not jeopardize that help.
This seems like concern trolling at best.
So…you think Ukraine is suddenly going to start killing Russian civilians?
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