MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia said on Tuesday its air defense systems had shot down six U.S. Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) launched by Ukraine in the past 24 hours.
Washington secretly shipped long-range missiles to kyiv as part of a $300 million military aid package for Ukraine that the United States established. President Joe Biden approved on March 12, a U.S. official said last week.
The question of whether to send ATACMS missiles with a range of up to 300 km has been a topic of debate within the Biden administration for months. Mid-range ATACMS were supplied last September.
The Russian Defense Ministry did not say where the missiles were shot down.
“Ten Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, six US-made ATACMS tactical missiles and two French-made “Hammer” guided aerial bombs were shot down by air defense,” the ministry said.
Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-backed leader of Crimea, said ATACMS missiles had been shot down over the peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014.
He posted a photo on Telegram showing what he described as unexploded submunitions from ATACMS missiles, without specifying how many missiles had been shot down.
(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
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