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Ukraine has been firing longer-range ATACMS missiles towards Crimea since April. The United States now wants to deliver more.
Kiev – More than 100 Russian soldiers are said to have been killed in an attack with a US ATACMS missile. The weapons have a head with cluster munitions and have long been used by the Ukrainian armed forces in the war against Russia. The missiles, in particular, with a range of 300 kilometers, are critical for the defense of Ukraine: This allows the military to attack targets that are far behind the front. Because the production of an order ordered several years ago has been completed, the United States now wants to supply Ukraine with additional ATACMS weapons.
A “significant number” are arriving “now at exactly the right time,” quoted Newsweek the statements made by Deputy Secretary of the Army Doug Bush Politico on Thursday. Bush is responsible for military procurement, logistics and technology. According to him, the new delivery enables the United States to support Ukraine with missiles without endangering its own effectiveness. “There are a lot of ATACMS coming off the assembly line.”
US secretly delivered ATACMS missiles in April
This is not the first time that the United States has delivered the 300-kilometer-range version of the short-range missile to Ukraine. At the end of April, US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel confirmed that weapons of this type had arrived in Ukraine as part of the March emergency aid package. This was on direct orders from the President Joe Biden happen.
Shortly before, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan had made public a secret missile delivery. Ukraine has committed itself to using the weapons only within its own territory, quoted Reuters Sullivan. The missiles were used for the first time on April 17 in an attack on a Russian airfield in Crimea, and a second offensive followed shortly afterwards. Last week, Ukraine attacked military bases in Crimea again.
Ukraine at war: Using ATACMS against weapons from North Korea
“We will send more,” Sullivan announced at the time Reuters reported. This is now being done as part of a $1 billion aid package. There were already reports in September that US President Biden had promised Ukraine ATACMS missiles with a longer range. According to Sullivan, there was a change of heart at the Pentagon after Russia used long-range ballistic missiles supplied by North Korea against Ukraine in December, despite warnings from the United States. (ses)
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