Ukraine's first ATACMS strikes may leave a lasting impact on Russia's airpower and send it scrambling to pull bases back from the front lines, Western intel says

• Ukraine revealed it has ATACMS this week after launching several strikes on Russian airbases.
• The attack destroyed multiple helicopters and other weaponry, Kyiv's defense ministry said.

Ukraine unveiled its new, secretly acquired arsenal of MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, to the world in spectacular fashion this week, likely destroying over a dozen Russian military helicopters and other equipment in a series of strikes on bases behind the lines.

This first use in Ukraine of the US-provided ATACMS — which are deadly long-range missiles — appears to have been a success for Kyiv's forces. And beyond the short-term win, it also may leave lasting damage on Russia's airpower and send it scrambling to pull its bases and logistics hubs back from the front lines, causing even further headaches for Moscow, according to Western intelligence.

On Tuesday, Ukraine's special operations forces used ATACMS to carry out strikes on Russian airfields in Berdyansk and Luhansk — two locations in Russian-occupied territory. In an initial assessment of the damage, Kyiv's defense ministry said the attack resulted in the loss of nine helicopters, an air-defense launcher, vehicles, and ammunition depots.

However, Britain's defense ministry said in a Friday intelligence update that it is "likely" nine helicopters were destroyed at Berdyansk alone, alongside five more in Luhansk. Support from rotary-wing aircraft — like helicopters — have been critical for Russian operations against Ukraine's ongoing counteroffensive, it said, because Moscow's close air support from fixed-wing aircraft, like fighter jets, has been "extremely poor."

The Berdyansk airfield has been an important forward operating base for Russia, providing logistics and offensive and defensive capabilities to Russian forces on the southern axis of the conflict, Britain's defense ministry said. This direction of attack is where Ukrainian forces found momentum toward the end of the summer, making notable territorial gains and moving armor forward in a way that they have been unable to do along other parts of the front line.

Kyiv's goal along this axis has been to push all the way down to the Sea of Azov and sever Russian-held territory by doing so, disrupting communication and supply lines stretching across the occupied land. Britain's intelligence update noted that if all this damage from the ATACMS strike is confirmed, "it is highly likely these losses will have an impact on Russia's ability both to defend and conduct further offensive activity on this axis."

"Given the current strain on Russian military production, the confirmed loss of any air frames will be difficult to replace in the short to medium term," Britain's defense ministry added, noting that "this loss will also likely create additional pressure on Russia's pilots and air frames, already almost certainly suffering combat exhaustion and maintenance issues due to the unanticipated protracted campaign."

Russia's airpower has taken a beating since the start of the full-scale war last year. According to Oryx, an open-source platform that keeps track of losses on both sides, Moscow has lost at least 93 aircraft and 115 helicopters — plus hundreds of drones.

Britain's defense ministry said there's also a "realistic possibility" that the devastating attack could force Russia to pull its bases and command and control facilities back farther away from the front lines, which, in turn, will strain logistics.

Russia has had to do this before in response to other Western weapons. The delivery of US-provided High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) last year increased Ukraine's firepower range and compelled Moscow to relocate ammunition, command and control, air-defense systems, and key logistics hubs out of reach.

Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG missiles from the UK and France have had similar effects, including on Russia's Black Sea Fleet, much of which withdrew from Sevastopol.

The ATACMS — long atop Ukraine's wishlist and secretly delivered to the country ahead of the strikes — will now double the range of Kyiv's HIMARS, as a person familiar with the matter told Insider that Ukraine used the M39 missile variant in Tuesday's strikes. The M39 is a deadly cluster missile that has a range of around 100 miles and is packed with 950 anti-personnel and anti-materiel, or APAM, M74 bomblets, little submunitions that are released mid-flight and dispersed over a large area.

Ukrainian officials, having relentlessly pushed Washington for its ATACMS alongside many American lawmakers and former US military officers, celebrated the reveal of the missiles on Tuesday, and hailed them as a formidable weapon.

"Today I am especially grateful to the United States," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement. "Our agreements with President Biden are being implemented. And they are being implemented very accurately — ATACMS have proven themselves."

"A new chapter of this war has (un)officially begun," said Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Zelenskyy. "There are no more safe places for Russian troops within the... internationally recognized borders" of Ukraine.