Ukraine using covert US long-range missiles

What happened

Ukraine's military is already hitting Russian targets with powerful long-range ballistic missiles secretly provided by the U.S., officials said Wednesday.

Who said what

The U.S. began sending Ukraine longer-range Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles last month and "will send more now that we have additional authority and money," National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said. President Joe Biden decided "the time is right to provide these" weapons, Adm. Christopher Grady said to The Associated Press.

The commentary

Biden had "resisted" sending Kyiv long-range missiles over fears "Ukraine would use them to strike inside Crimea or Russia," prompting Kremlin escalation, NBC News said. But he changed his mind after Russia disregarded "multiple warnings" to not "use long-range weapons inside Ukraine and to stop attacking Ukrainian energy grids."

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What next?

"We got it done," Biden said before signing a long-delayed bill with $61 billion in aid for Ukraine. "Now we need to move fast, and we are." An immediate $1 billion package includes more ATACMS, "air defense capabilities, artillery rounds" and "other weapons to shore up" demoralized Ukrainian forces, the AP said.