The United States confirmed on Wednesday that it had secretly delivered a long-range Atacms missile system to Ukraine. Russia has recently condemned the delivery.
United States has secretly delivered to Ukraine a new long-range Atacms missile system with a range of more than 305 kilometers.
The newspaper reported about it on Wednesday The New York Times. According to a high-ranking official source interviewed by it, the President of the United States Joe Biden approved the decision to send the missile system already in February.
After this, the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that the shipment was kept secret so that the Russians would not be tipped off about its movement to Ukraine. Spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Vedant Patelin according to which the missiles arrived in Ukraine already earlier in April.
According to The New York Times, Ukrainian forces immediately deployed the system on the eastern front and took advantage of it as early as last Wednesday while attacking a Russian military airfield in Crimea.
The Ukrainians also used the system against Russian troops in the southeastern part of the country on the night before Tuesday.
Russia denounced the information about the Atacms transmission from its freshness.
Russian ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov according to which the secret sending of long-range missiles is “impossible to justify”. According to Antonov, the missiles increase Russia’s perceived security threat.
“It is obvious that the handing over of Atacms (President Volodymyr) Zelenskyin increases the security threat to the administration in Crimea, Sevastopol, Russia’s new regions and other Russian cities,” Antonov said According to the Russian Embassy in the United States Thursday morning Finnish time.
By Russia’s “new territories”, Antonov refers to the four Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia, which it has illegally declared to have annexed as part of Russia. Crimea has been occupied by Russia since 2014.
According to Antonov, Russia would have already destroyed several Atacms missiles.
Also Deputy head of the military-political department of the Russian Armed Forces and commander of the Ahmat special forces Apty Alaudinov said that he considers the Atacms system a threat to Crimea, reports the Russian state news agency Tass.
Alaudinov commented on Thursday that Ukraine could attack the Crimean bridge with Atacms missiles. He accused the United States of “practically financing terrorist activities.”
The Kerch Strait bridge built by Russia connects the Crimean peninsula, which belongs to Ukraine, to Russia. The bridge has been shown to be Main destinations of Ukraine.
According to recent comments, Russia fears that Ukraine will use a new long-range missile system on the Kerch Strait bridge.
Atacms transmission was not just passed by Congress and President Biden to the support package worth 57.2 billion euros signed on Wednesdaybut was part of a larger $300 million arms shipment to Ukraine in March.
The March aid package was put together by the Ministry of Defense from unexpected cost savings arising from Pentagon contracts. According to Reuters news agency The United States said at the time that the arms aid package would include, for example, artillery ammunition. There was no public talk of long-range missile systems at that time.
Long-range missiles have been at the top of Ukraine’s wish list for a long time, but the United States has been reluctant to hand over weapon systems to Ukraine that would allow it to attack deeper into Russia than before.
The United States has previously confirmed that it has sent short-range Atacms missiles to Ukraine, with a maximum firing range of about 160 kilometers.
Ukraine has been requesting long-range Taurus missiles from Germany for a long time. Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz however, has been reluctant to accede to the request. Scholz fears that the handover of Taurus missiles to Ukraine could escalate the war between Russia and NATO.
On Wednesday, Scholz still assured that he would not change his decision not to send Taurus missiles to Ukraine. The British Prime Minister was asked about it Rishi Sunakin During a visit to Berlin.
During the visit, however, Sunak and Scholz said that Europe should support Ukraine under Russian attack as long as necessary.