The United States will not transfer ATACMS long-range missiles to Ukraine, because they want to leave them in service with their army due to small reserves. This, citing four knowledgeable sources in the administration of the President of the United States, was reported by Politico on Tuesday, February 14.
U.S. officials told Kyiv representatives that they did not have spare ATACMS long-range missiles in the country for transfer to Ukraine, the media notes. The transfer of ATACMS to the battlefield in Eastern Europe would dwindle America’s stockpiles and harm the U.S. military’s readiness for a future fight, sources with knowledge of the negotiations told Politico.
“One of the reasons the military is hesitant to send the ATACMS is due to a desire to maintain a certain level of munitions in U.S. stockpiles, said one U.S. official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military calculations. With any package, we always consider our readiness and our own stocks while providing Ukraine what it needs on the battlefield. There are other ways of providing Ukraine with the capabilities it needs to strike the targets,” said a senior Department of Defense official. “
One of the workarounds that Kyiv is considering is to request U.S. permission to buy ATACMS from an ally country that operates these weapons, since ATACMS is also owned by South Korea, Poland, Romania, Greece, Turkiye, Qatar and Bahrain, the publication writes.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on July 28, 2022, the head of the Presidential Office, Andrii Yermak, said that ATACMS missiles, capable of hitting targets at a distance of more than 280 km, would cut off the military logistics of Russians and protect Ukraine from missile attacks.
On December 30, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine could receive modern tanks and ATACMS long-range missiles.
On February 2, 2023, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that Ukraine is ready to guarantee not to use the long-range missiles on the territory of the Russian Federation.
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