Reports indicate Kiev’s supply of longer-range ATACMS missiles was depleted by the end of January.
According to the Associated Press, citing a U.S. official, Ukraine’s military has used all of the ATACMS missiles provided by the U.S. during its conflict with Russia.
Ukraine began employing the 300km-range ATACMS in autumn 2024, targeting internationally recognized Russian territory, specifically the Kursk, Bryansk, Belgorod, and Rostov regions.
The AP reported on Wednesday that Ukraine’s ATACMS stockpile was exhausted by late January. A U.S. official, speaking anonymously, stated that Washington supplied Ukraine with “fewer than 40” of the missiles.
An unnamed Ukrainian lawmaker on the country’s defense committee also confirmed to the AP that Ukraine no longer possesses any ATACMS missiles.
The Biden administration initially prohibited Ukraine from using U.S.-made weapons to strike deep inside Russia but later reversed this policy. The UK and France followed suit, permitting attacks using their Storm Shadow and SCALP missiles.
Moscow cautioned the U.S. and its allies against authorizing long-range Ukrainian strikes, warning that it would implicate NATO directly in the conflict due to Ukraine’s reliance on external assistance for firing sophisticated weaponry.
In response to the initial ATACMS strikes in November of the previous year, Russia reportedly deployed its new hypersonic Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile system against the Yuzhmash military industrial facility in Dnepr.
The Russian military claims to have successfully intercepted ATACMS and other long-range Western munitions on most occasions. The Defense Ministry in Moscow has not reported intercepting American missiles since mid-January.
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