The long-awaited US ATACMS long-range missiles were the weapon used by Ukraine to destroy 9 Russian helicopters and other military equipment at two airfields in the occupied cities of Berdiansk last night. Ukrainian deputy Oleksí Goncharenko has assured and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has confirmed.
“Yes. My sources confirm it,” said the opposition legislator via WhatsApp when asked about the message in this regard that he had published on the social network X. Goncharenko explained that the Lugansk airfield was also hit with ATACMS. The attacks would have caused numerous Russian casualties.
Goncharenko has published on his account photos with remains of these missiles supposedly released by Russian sources that made reference to the two attacks.
“The ATACMS are already with us. The Berdiansk airfield and the enemy equipment were hit with them,” the parliamentarian wrote on his X social network account.
President Zelensky, for his part, expressed special thanks to the United States in his usual speech: “Special thanks to the United States. Our agreements with President Biden are being implemented. They are executed in a very precise way: the ATACMS have passed the test,” Zelensky said.
The United States never confirmed the shipment of this type of missiles to Ukraine. who asked the US for this type of weaponry for months without success.
ATACMS missiles are one of the weapons that Ukraine most wanted to obtain from the United States. The Army’s conventional tactical missile system (ATACMS) is a high-precision surface-to-surface attack system with a range of up to 300 kilometers manufactured by the American company Lockheed Martin.
They were first used to great effect during Operation Desert Storm, between 1990 and 1991, when a US-led coalition attacked Iraq in response to its invasion of Kuwait.
These missiles have a solid propellant engine and can be launched by both the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) and the more advanced M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).
Ukraine now has both MLRS, a self-propelled vehicle equipped with tracks, and HIMARS, which is mounted on a military truck.
