The Biden administration has authorized Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied ballistic missiles, known as Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), for attacks inside Russia. This marks a significant policy shift in the US support for Ukraine’s conflict with Russia.
ATACMS are short-range ballistic missiles that can strike targets 190 miles away with a warhead containing about 375 pounds of explosives. They will be fired from HIMARS mobile launchers provided by the US and older M270 launchers sent from Britain and Germany.
The decision to arm Ukraine with ATACMS has been contentious, as Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 made it a sensitive topic. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has pleaded for weapons that can hit deeper into Russian-held territory.
The US has supplied several hundred ATACMS for use on Russian-held Ukrainian territory, including the Crimean Peninsula. However, it’s unclear how many missiles are left in Ukraine’s arsenal to be used in the Kursk region.
In the past, the US military fired around 30 ATACMS during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. The Pentagon later restricted the use of cluster munitions due to their failure rate and humanitarian concerns.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/17/world/europe/what-are-atacms-missiles-ukraine-russia.html