US secretly supplies Ukraine with long-range missiles that can reach deep inside Russia

The United States has secretly provided Ukrainian armed forces with long-range ballistic missiles which have already been used to strike targets deep within Russian territory, according to US officials.

The delivery of the long-range Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) was authorised by President Joe Biden last month as part of a $300m arms package, and Kyiv has begun putting them to use in recent days, by hitting a Russian military airfield in Crimea last week as well as Russian forces in another occupied area overnight.

More of the US-made missiles will be provided as part of an arms and aid package which Mr Biden said would be dispatched “within hours” after he signed a $95bn national security appropriations bill.

The president’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said Mr Biden put his signature to a “very substantial drawdown package” after he signed the long-awaited legislation at the White House on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after the Senate voted to approve it by a margin of 78 votes in favour and 18 against. The vote in the upper chamber ended a months-long standoff fueled by isolationist Republican opposition.

Mr Sullivan said it would include “urgently needed artillery” and ammunition for the HIMARS rocket system, as well as “more armoured vehicles, Javelins, Stingers, and air defence interceptors, among other things,” all of which were “going to start moving immediately to make up for lost time at this critical moment”.

He also confirmed that a “significant number” of ATACMS missiles had been dispatched on orders from Mr Biden in February “for use inside Ukraine sovereign territory” and said the decision to allow Ukrainian forces the use of those advanced missiles was in part a response to Russia