Officials in central Ukraine said Thursday a Russian missile attack injured at least six people in the Cherkasy region.
Ihor Taburets, the regional governor of Cherkasy, said the blast waves and debris from the missiles damaged nearly 50 houses.
In southern Ukraine, the top Russia-installed official in Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia said Thursday a Ukrainian drone attack killed two people.
Yevgeny Balitsky said on Telegram the attack happened in a village southeast of the city of Zaporizhzhia, and included a strike on a car.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Britain Thursday for its latest sanctions against Russia and aid package of more than $600 million for Ukraine, as British finance minister Jeremy Hunt visited Kyiv.
“We paid special attention to the sanction policy,” Zelenskyy said. “It is important to extend restrictive measures against Russia and make the circumvention of sanctions impossible.”
That followed Zelenskyy’s evening video message Wednesday in which he thanked the United States for its own new aid pledges for Ukraine. Zelenskyy expressed gratitude to U.S. leaders and “all Americans who realize the need to take the wind out of Putin’s sails, not to submit to him, as only then will there truly be fewer threats to freedom.”
Long-range missiles
The United States has provided Ukraine with long-range tactical ballistic missiles known as ATACMS, U.S. defense department spokesman Major Charlie Dietz told VOA.
The ballistic missiles have a range of up to 300 kilometers, nearly doubling the striking distance of Ukraine’s missiles.
The missiles were sent to Ukraine as part of the United States’ $300 million military aid package provided to Kyiv in mid-March, Dietz said. He would not confirm whether more ATACMS are being sent in the latest aid package.
Two U.S. officials have confirmed to VOA that Ukraine used the ATACMS Tuesday night. Other media outlets are reporting that the weapons were first used last week on Russian targets in the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula.
“We did not announce that we were providing Ukraine with this new capability at the time in order to maintain operational security for Ukraine, at their request,” a senior administration official said.
The U.S. added more of the newer version of ATACMS to its stockpiles earlier this year, according to two officials. Once those were transferred into U.S. stocks, the military was able to send Ukraine some of the older version of its long-range missiles, they added.
President Joe Biden directed his team to take this step following Russia’s procurement and use of North Korean ballistic missiles against Ukraine, the senior administration official told VOA.
“ATACMS will help Ukraine deny Russia safe haven anywhere in occupied Ukrainian territory,” the official noted.
VOA White House correspondent Misha Komadovsky and VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb contributed to this report. Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
