Ukraine hits targets in Russia with US-supplied ATACMS missiles

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — U.S. Marines launch rockets from a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System during live-fire training at Adazi Training Area, Latvia, March 7, 2019. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Andy O. Martinez via U.S. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service - DVIDS)

KYIV  -  Ukraine's military said on Tuesday it had attacked military targets in Russia with U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles, calling it a "significant development."

Ukraine has not previously stated openly that it uses the advanced U.S.-provided ballistic missile systems on targets inside Russia, although the restriction on doing so was lifted by the outgoing Biden administration a year ago.

"The use of long-range strike capabilities, including systems such as ATACMS, will continue," the military general staff said in a statement on Tuesday.

Kyiv received the systems in 2023 but was initially restricted to using them only on its own territories, nearly a fifth of which are occupied by Russia.

Joe Biden, who was U.S president at the time, lifted those restrictions in November 2024, a move which was initially criticised by his successor Donald Trump.

Ukraine has requested U.S.-made Tomahawk missiles that have a range of 2,500 km (1,550 miles), saying these will help bring Russia to the negotiating table. 

Although Trump initially pondered the idea of selling them to Kyiv, in November he said he was "not really" considering the move.

 (Reporting by Yuliia Dysa and Max Hunder, Editing by William Maclean // REUTERS)