US to give long range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine on regular basis

Two days after Kyiv confirmed using them for the first time, the country’s foreign minister announced on Thursday that Ukraine will regularly receive long-range ATACMS missiles from the United States.

On Tuesday, the White House claimed to have sent Kyiv ATACMS missiles, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy claimed that his country’s soldiers had really used such missiles.

Kyiv had repeatedly asked for the ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems), claiming they could change how the war against Russia played out.

Asked whether regular shipments and larger numbers of missiles were expected, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said: “It means this.”

“And this is a direct result of the agreement between President Zelenskiy and President Biden, reached in Washington during a personal meeting in late September,” he said in televised comments.

How many missiles have already been delivered is unknown. The New York Times said that the U.S. has already sent approximately 20 of them, citing two Western officials.

(With agency inputs)