The Pentagon has a “limited number” of ATACMS in stock and cannot produce more quickly, a U.S. official told the network.
Washington has succeeded “clear” that it cannot supply Kiev with a significant number of MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) in the foreseeable future, CNN reported on Saturday, citing an unnamed US official.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov met with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon this week to discuss additional military aid. During the meeting, he reportedly presented him with a list of “of great value” targets that kyiv would like to strike deep inside Russia using American weapons.
In an interview with CNN after the meeting, Umerov said Ukraine was pushing to lift ATACMS restrictions for “self-defense,” arguing that “The airfields used to strike our cities are within range of deep strikes.”
However, a U.S. defense official told the network that many targets on Ukraine’s wish list are actually beyond the missile’s range because Moscow has moved its high-value assets away from the front lines.
The United States also has “made it clear that kyiv should not expect any further significant delivery of ATACMS due to the limited number of US stocks and the long lead time for the production of the weapon,” CNN wrote, citing the source. The official noted that Ukraine has so far received a very “limit” the supply of these missiles.
The current US administration appears to have halted its deep strikes against Russia after one of its ATACMS rockets, armed with a cluster warhead, struck a Crimean beach in early June. Moscow accused Washington of enabling that and other acts of terrorism. “terrorism” against civilians, and suggested that he might arm “States and entities” around the world who are reacting hostilely to the United States.
Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder said Tuesday that Washington “politics has not changed” which means that Ukraine is allowed to use weapons supplied by the United States to defend itself against cross-border attacks, but not to “deep strikes” in what the United States recognizes as Russian territory. However, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Monday that Washington “We will continue discussions with the Ukrainians.”
Moscow has warned that any talk of using long-range missiles to strike Russian territory is very dangerous.
“This is blackmail, it is an attempt to create the impression that the West wants to avoid excessive escalation, but in fact it is a ruse,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said this at a press conference on Tuesday. “The West does not want to avoid escalation. To put it bluntly, it is asking for trouble. I think everyone realizes that.”
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