ATACMS missiles will bolster Ukraine’s counteroffensive – OC South 

Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for the South Command, said this during a briefing at the Media Centre Ukraine - Ukrinform.

According to Humeniuk, the destruction of Russian terrorists' capabilities in the deep rear is one of the main factors that will allow the Defense Forces to move forward more actively.

"Realizing that the enemy has recently intensified its aviation activity, it was clear that we needed to attack the areas that provide its capabilities. That's what happened, and the result is obvious,” Humeniuk noted.

Natalia Humeniuk explained that each such missile is an opportunity to destroy the Russian enemy, and it should be used by the military as efficiently as possible.

"No matter how many of them (missiles - ed.) there are, they will all be directed at the target," said the spokesperson for the South military command.

US has provided Ukraine long-range ATACMS missiles

On the night of October 16-17, Ukrainian forces successfully attacked Russian helicopters and airfields in Luhansk and Berdyansk.

Foreign media wrote that during this attack, Ukraine used for the first time against Russian troops the American long-range ATACMS missiles that the United States had secretly sent a few days earlier. 

Later, the White House confirmed the transfer of ATACMS missiles to Ukraine. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that they would be used against Russian troops, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi demonstrated how Ukrainian defenders used them on the battlefield.

Later it was reported that Ukraine had received about 20 long-range ATACMS missiles from the United States. However, the Ukrainian army cannot use them to strike at Russian territory.

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin called the supply of ATACMS missiles to Ukraine a US mistake and noted that it posed an additional threat to Russia.