The USA is considering sending ATACMS missiles to Ukraine with a range of up to 180 miles (about 290 kilometers). With the help of these missiles, Ukraine will be able to strike Russian positions in Crimea more effectively.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) writes about this with reference to American officials.
Ukraine insists on the transfer of ATACMS missiles with such a range. However, U.S. officials previously rejected the idea because they believed ATACMS missiles with such a range should be reserved for the USʼs own military needs.
The WSJ writes that the US military can now use the next-generation Precision Strike Missile. With this in mind, the newspaper writes that the Pentagon is "open to providing ATACMS" to Ukraine.
At the same time, the publication does not indicate whether US President Joe Biden will approve the transfer of ATACMS with a longer range than Ukraine has already received.
- Ukraine unofficially received the first batch of ATACMS in October 2023. At the time, it was not announced, but the Western media wrote about approximately 20 received missiles. Already on October 17, it became known that ATACMS hit the airfield of occupied Berdyansk. The video of the missile launch was published by the former commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhny.
- Citing sources, The Wall Street Journal wrote that in October 2023, the US secretly sent a small batch of ATACMS missiles with a range of about 160 kilometers. This range has the basic version of the MGM-140A ATACMS Block 1 with a cluster warhead consisting of 950 bombs of the M74 type.