U.S. supplies Ukraine with long-range missiles that hit two Russian airfields and anger Vladimir Putin

Open this photo in gallery:

Ukraine’s faltering counteroffensive received a small but important boost with the deployment of American-made, long-range missiles that hit two airfields in parts of the country occupied by Russia.

Ukraine’s special forces used M39 ATACMS ballistic missiles to destroy nine Russian helicopters, an air-defence missile launcher and other equipment. ATACMS stands for Army Tactical Missile System; the equipment has been part of the U.S. arsenal since the late 1980s and played a prominent role during 1991′s Operation Desert Storm in Iraq.

Ukraine had been asking for the missiles for many months, so its forces could hit targets well behind the front lines. The M-39 has a range of about 165 kilometres, giving the Ukraine military the ability to take the war into parts of occupied territories with scant defence systems.

Their delivery, which was kept quiet until the moment they were used, marks a new phase in the managed escalation of the war by the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, whose member countries have been slowly sending more sophisticated and deadly weapons to Ukraine. These include German-built Leopard 2 tanks, multiple-rocket launchers and American Patriot surface-to-air missile systems. Next year, Ukraine, whose air force is small, will receive U.S.-made F-16 supersonic fighter-bombers.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday decried the arrival of the ATACMS. At a news conference during a visit to Beijing, he acknowledged that the missiles represent a threat to Russian forces, but said Russia will be able to repel the attacks. “Most importantly, it fundamentally lacks the capability to change the situation at the line of contact at all,” he said. “This is another mistake by the United States.”

Military strategists say the ATACMS are valuable additions to the Ukraine military but are not war game changers because their warheads use cluster bombs, or “bomblets,” which are not effective against hard or highly protected targets. The bomblets scatter over a fairly wide area and their relatively small explosions, while capable of killing infantry or destroying parked helicopters and exposed stores of ammunition, are not effective against underground bunkers, reinforced aircraft hangers or bridges.

Open this photo in gallery:

In an interview with The Globe, Mykola Bielieskov, research fellow at Ukraine’s National Institute for Strategic Studies, said the ATACMS “are good against everything unprotected and they will make the Russians move their attack helicopters farther away from the battlefield.”

It is unknown how many of the missiles were given to Ukraine and how many more will come. Various American news media reports said between a dozen and 20 of the missiles, which are fired from the back of vehicles with wheels or tank-like tracks, were delivered.

The ATACMS deliveries were first confirmed on Tuesday by the White House’s National Security Council. While there had been speculation for several months that the arrival of the missiles in Ukraine was imminent, American defence officials denied as late as August that they were on their way.

The Americans were careful to supply only the first-generation ATACMS, which have the shortest range, for fear that Ukraine would use the longer-range versions to strike Russia itself, potentially triggering an escalation of the war that would threaten the lives of thousands of Ukrainian civilians. The missiles provided were built between 1990 and 1997 and lack GPS guidance, but are still considered fairly accurate.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that the missiles has already “proved themselves” by damaging the two Russian airfields in occupied territory.

The news of the successful ATACMS attacks broke shortly before Russian missiles killed at least seven civilians and damaged the power grid in the northeastern city of Kharkiv on Wednesday, according to Ukrainian officials.