Politico: US will not send ATACMS missiles to Ukraine due to insufficient stocks

The administration of US President Joe Biden, during negotiations with Kiev, stated that it could not supply long-range ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) missiles for the Armed Forces of Ukraine due to the lack of their surplus in military depots, writes Politico.

“With any aid package, we always take into account our readiness and our own supplies, providing Ukraine with what it needs on the battlefield. There are other ways to give Ukraine the capabilities it needs to hit targets,” said one of the Pentagon sources.

At the same time, one of Politico’s sources noted that Kyiv could ask Washington for approval to purchase these missiles from third countries using these weapons. These include South Korea, Poland, Romania, Greece, Turkey, and others. According to the newspaper, over the past 20 years, Lockheed Martin has produced about 4,000 ATACMS in various configurations.

Kiev’s intention to receive long-range ATACMS missiles with a range of up to 300 km from Washington became known back in September 2022. After that, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the supply of such weapons capable of hitting Russian cities would mean “direct involvement of the United States in a military confrontation with Russia”. At the end of November, Washington announced that it was not supplying Kyiv with longer-range weapons because of the desire to avoid further escalation of the conflict. At the same time, in the next package of military assistance on February 3, the United States turned on GLSDB missiles capable of hitting at a distance of about 150 km.

Russia’s special operation in Ukraine began on February 24, 2022. After that, Western countries began to provide military assistance to Ukraine and imposed large-scale sanctions against the Russian Federation. In particular, since the beginning of hostilities, the United States has already provided Ukraine with weapons worth about $27.2 billion.

The Russian authorities have repeatedly criticized the supply of Western weapons to Kyiv. In particular, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, warned that pumping Ukraine with weapons brings NATO closer to the dangerous line of a direct military clash with Russia. And Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that the supply of long-range weapons would only expand the geography of the special operation.