The US has authorized the Ukrainian Armed Forces to strike targets in occupied Crimea with long-range ATACMS missiles recently transferred to Kyiv. This information was disclosed to The New York Times by high-ranking Pentagon officials, as reported by "The Moscow Times" Telegram channel.
The American military department referred to the occupied peninsula as the center of russian air and ground forces, "where russia has had a relatively safe haven until now". Therefore, the objective of the strikes using ATACMS systems will be to exert "greater pressure on Crimea", noted the Pentagon representative.
In addition to this, ATACMS can be used to strike behind the russian army lines in other occupied regions of Ukraine. In this case, the targets for the missiles will be supply nodes for the russian federation in the southeast of the country, explained the Pentagon.
According to the NYT, Ukraine received a version of ATACMS with a range of up to 300 km. The number of missiles transferred is not disclosed. Last fall, the US sent missiles of the same system with a range of 165 km to Kyiv.