U.S. delivers over hundred long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine in March - NYT

In mid-February, White House Chief of Staff Joe Biden secretly approved a decision to provide Ukraine with more than 100 longer-range ATACMS missiles. In March, they arrived in Ukraine.

According to Censor.NET, the New York Times reported this with reference to a senior US official.

As noted, the assistance was provided after US President Joe Biden had secretly approved the transfer of ATACMS in February.

According to the NYT, the US had previously sent Ukraine ATACMS with a range of 100 miles (about 165 km). However, Ukraine has long asked for missiles that can cover 190 miles (over 300 km).

The NYT source also said that the missiles Ukraine received in March had, among other things, hit the Russian military airfield at Dzhankoy in Crimea, destroying Russian S-300 and S-400 systems, as well as Russian troops in southeastern Ukraine last week.

White House officials kept this assistance secret so as not to inform the Russians, who could have withdrawn their forces and hidden the depots. Biden administration officials said that the March arms package was a temporary measure to provide Ukraine with ammunition for only a few weeks.

Read more: Transfer of ATACMS to Ukraine is signal that support from US is unwavering - Ambassador Brink

Additional longer-range missiles were also included in the $60.8 billion aid to Ukraine approved by Congress and signed by the US president.

On 24 April, Reuters reported that the United States had taken the appropriate step because of Russia's use of long-range ballistic missiles supplied by North Korea.

Subsequently, US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said that the missile transfer began as part of an aid package announced by the US on 12 March.

Read more: US will continue to supply Ukraine with ATACMS missiles - Biden’s adviser Sullivan