(Dan Tri) – Ukraine is racing against time to take advantage of long-range ATACMS missiles provided by the US to cause maximum damage to Russia before Moscow adapts to this weapon.

ATACMS missile (Photo: Lockheed Martin).

According to Newsweek, Ukraine is trying to take advantage of the time that Russia has not yet effectively adapted to the US-made ATACMS missile with a range of 300km, to cause great damage to Moscow.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan revealed in April that the US had secretly provided `a significant number` of ATACMS missiles to Ukraine, giving Kiev a long-range weapon that could put all of Crimea within range.

The US last year supplied shorter-range ATACMS variants, but Ukraine now has missiles that can hit targets at a distance of about 300km.

According to Ukraine, long-range ATACMS has recently caused damage to Russia by destroying Moscow’s air defense system, bases, and military training locations.

The Russian military began to respond to the threat posed by long-range ATACMS missiles.

Like previous Western weapons systems, the effectiveness of the long-range ATACMS missile will likely gradually decrease as the Russian military adapts to intercepting these fires, according to Newsweek.

Ivan Stupak, a former Ukrainian Security Service officer and current adviser to the Ukrainian parliament’s national security, defense and intelligence committee, told Newsweek: `We know that the Russians can adapt in

`Look at the Excalibur smart artillery shells (issued by the US to Ukraine). Their accuracy level has decreased significantly from 70% to 6% due to Russian electronic warfare systems,` he said.

Previously, Western media had repeatedly talked about weapons that could `change the game` on the Ukrainian front lines such as HIMARS, Leopard 2 tanks, Bradley infantry fighting vehicles… However, in reality,

Weighing more than 1.6 tons, 4m long and 610mm in diameter, ATACMS can fly at speeds of up to 1km/s at a ceiling of about 50km.

In mid-April, Ukraine announced it had attacked the Dzhankoi military base, in northern Crimea, including the S-400 air defense launcher, without detailing the weapons used.

Last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pointed to ATACMS as the main weapon for targeting Russian airfields in Crimea.

`When Russia knows we can destroy these jets, they won’t attack from Crimea anymore. It’s like a fleet at sea. We pushed Russia out of our territorial waters. Now we