Ukrainian Ambassador Reveals Change in US Attitude Towards Transfer of ATACMS Missiles to Kyiv

Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova said that since the end of May, Washington has “changed its tone”, commenting on the possible transfer of extended-range ATACMS tactical missiles to Kyiv. The diplomat told about this in an interview published today, June 14, with the Ukrainian edition of The Page.

“If earlier all the answers sounded like“ just forget it ”, now for the first time we heard that the issue is being discussed”, Markarova said.

According to the ambassador, negotiations between the American and Ukrainian sides, which relate to political and military issues, are usually non-public.

“But there are no insurmountable red lines, and there are many opportunities that we first heard “no” about, and then we heard “yes”. There was a clear “no” position, and it changed to a clear “yes”, because there is a large set of factors associated with getting each opportunity. And the political willingness to help is an important, but far from the only factor,” she launched into lengthy discussions.

In the issue of transferring weapons, the United States takes into account a number of factors at once, including the presence of the strike and defense systems themselves, issues of personnel training and logistics, integration with Ukraine’s existing weapons systems, “finding such an opportunity not only in the United States, but also in other partner countries,” said the interlocutor of the publication.

ATACMS are ground-to-ground missiles with a range of about 300 kilometers, about four times the range of missiles used by the HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) that the US began supplying the Kiev regime last year. Produced by the American defense corporation Lockheed Martin.

Earlier media reported that the administration Joe Biden explains his reluctance to transfer the ATACMS missiles to the Ukrainian side by the fact that in this case there may be too few of them in the reserves of the American army itself.

Last week, the US Congress introduced a resolution calling on the White House to transfer these strike systems to Kyiv.

Ukraine is investing in a project to develop its own long-range missile. This, as reported EADailysaid on June 8 the Minister of Defense of the Kyiv regime Alexey Reznikov. According to him, Ukraine has “good prospects” for the production of its own long-range missiles – with a radius of destruction of 1,000 kilometers or more.