Russian milblogger admits Ukraine may have executed its 'most serious' hit yet after targeting airfields, likely with US-made ATACMS missiles

• Ukraine said it launched a huge attack on Russian airfields, destroying helicopters and equipment.
• A Russian milblogger said it may have been the biggest blow since the invasion began.

A Russian military blogger said Ukraine's strikes, which likely used new ATACMS long-range missiles from the US, may have been the biggest hit on Russia's forces since the invasion began.

Ukraine said on Tuesday that it hit Russian airfields in occupied parts of Ukraine. The strikes destroyed nine Russian helicopters, an air-defense launcher, vehicles, and ammunition depots, and also damaged airfields, Ukraine's defense ministry said.

Russian milblogger Fighterbomber said on Tuesday that the strike was "one of the most serious blows . . . if not the most serious" of Russia's Special Military Operation, which is what Russia calls the invasion.

"There are losses in both people and technology," the milblogger said, according to the Financial Times' translation.

Russian milbloggers, which use social media platforms like Telegram, play a big role in Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Most are pro-war and share updates on the fighting and react to its developments. They often express frustrations at Russia's performance and reveal when things have gone badly for Russia's forces.

Fighterbomber, which has almost 400,000 subscribers on Telegram, has links to Russia's air force, Insider previously reported.

Fighterbomber said the strikes used ATACMS, and a Russian official said ATACMS fragments were found at the site.

Ukraine implied the missiles, which it got from the US, were used in the attack, but did not outright confirm it.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the US for the ATACMS in his Tuesday evening address, saying they "are being implemented very accurately" and "have proven themselves."

Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander in chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces, shared a video of the ATACMS being fired on Tuesday, thanking his soldiers and Ukraine's allies.

A person familiar with the matter told Insider's Jake Epstein that Ukraine used the M39 variant in the strikes.

The missiles have a range of around 100 miles and carry 950 anti-personnel and anti-materiel M74 bomblets.

That allows Ukraine to hit deep behind Russia's lines, which is where it stores aircraft, ammunition, and other weapons. The range is double that of the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS), which Kyiv has fired from its HIMARS weapons.

Officials told ABC News that fewer than a dozen of the missiles have arrived in Ukraine over the last few days. It is not clear how many the US has agreed to send in total, and the US had kept its agreement to send the missiles a secret.

Ukraine has previously used other missiles and drones to strike into Russia-held territory, as well as Russia itself, and destroy aircraft and weaponry. These attacks have typically seen one or a handful of planes destroyed at a time.

With the ATACMS, Ukraine will be able to "more widely destroy Russian aircraft and other assets" in its strikes because they can be armed with cluster munitions, Washington DC-based think tank, the Institute for the Study of War, said on Tuesday.