Ukraine likely has no long-range ATACMS missiles left
Source: Associated Press, citing an American official and a Ukrainian MP who spoke on condition of anonymity
Quote: "Officials acknowledged Wednesday that Kyiv no longer has any of the longer-range Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, missiles. According to a US official and a Ukrainian lawmaker on the country's defence committee, Ukraine has run out of the ATACMs."
Details: The American official stated that the United States had provided Ukraine with fewer than 40 of these missiles in total and that they had run out in Ukraine by the end of January.
"Senior US defence leaders, including the previous Pentagon chief, Lloyd Austin, had made it clear that only a limited number of the ATACMs would be delivered and that the US and NATO allies considered other weapons to be more valuable in the fight," AP reported.
For ference: Depending on the modification, ATACMS can have a range of 140 to 300 kilometres.
Background:
On 17 November 2024, The New York Times reported that at that time US President Joe Biden had, for the first time, allowed the Ukrainian military to use long-range ATACMS missiles to strike Russian territory.
On 19 November 2024, Forbes Ukraine reported that Ukraine's defence forces had, for the first time, conducted a strike on Russian territory using US long-range ATACMS missiles.
A few days later, on 25 November 2024, OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) analysts found that Ukraine had, for the first time, struck a military airfield in Russia's Kursk Oblast with cluster warheads attached to US-made ATACMS ballistic missiles.
The Russian Defence Ministry acknowledged that three ATACMS long-range missiles launched by Ukraine's Armed Forces on 23 and 25 November had reached their targets in Kursk Oblast.
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