- October Izvestia obtained exclusive footage of the wreckage of a downed US ATACMS long-range missile - the United States supplied this munition to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU).
The missile was shot down yesterday by Russian air defence systems in one of the directions in the special operations zone. The White House National Security Council did not officially confirm the ATACMS move to Kiev until today.
Adrienne Watson, the White House National Security Council's chief of press, said in a statement that the United States has provided Ukraine with ATACMS with a range of up to 165 km to enhance Ukraine's combat capability.
According to The Wall Street Journal, a small amount of ATACMS has been secretly sent to Ukraine in recent days. The AP reported that Kiev received missiles with cluster warheads. When fired, the munitions expand and release hundreds of bombs. The missiles have a shorter range than the maximum possible range of 300 km.
CNN noted that by secretly delivering long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine, the United States hoped to catch Russia by surprise. Since Washington usually announces arms deliveries to Ukraine, however, in some cases it does not disclose this information, as was the case with the HARM missiles.
In addition, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the use of long-range ATACMS missiles on that day. He said that his agreements with Biden were being fulfilled.
Western countries have increased military and financial support to Kiev against the backdrop of Russia's special operation to protect the Donbas, which Russian leader Vladimir Putin announced to start on 24 February 2022 after the situation in the region deteriorated due to shelling by the Ukrainian army.
(Izvestia/USA)
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