US to provide long-range missiles to Ukraine – reports

US President Joe Biden wants to give Ukraine powerful missiles that can reach far distances in order to help them defend against attacks. This information has been reported by US media.

According to US officials who know about the matter, Ukraine will receive some missiles called ATACMS. These missiles have a range of up to 190 miles (300km).

This would allow Kyiv to attack important Russian locations far away from where the fighting is happening.

On Friday, a Ukrainian missile hit Russia’s Black Sea fleet headquarters in annexed Crimea.

An official from the Ukrainian military said to the BBC that the attack in Sevastopol used Storm Shadow missiles. These missiles are given to Ukraine by Britain and France, showing how important Western weapons are to Ukraine.

These missiles can travel a distance of a little over 150 miles.
Unnamed US officials said that President Biden told the Ukrainian President that Kyiv would receive a few ATACMS missiles. The two leaders saw each other at the White House on Thursday.

The WSJ says that the weapons will be sent soon.

The Washington Post reports that Ukraine will receive ATACMS with cluster bomblets instead of just one warhead, according to some people familiar with the discussions.

The American media reports have not been confirmed by either the US or Ukraine.

After the discussions between Biden and Zelensky, Washington said they will provide Ukraine with $325m (£265m) in military aid. This aid includes weapons and ammunition. Next week, Kyiv will receive America’s Abrams tanks.

However, both presidents have avoided giving direct answers on the ATACMS problem.

“I think that we will be able to agree on most of the things we talked about with President Biden yesterday,” Mr Zelensky said on Friday while visiting Canada.

Yes, it will only take time. He said that not everything relies on Ukraine.

Kyiv has been trying for months to get ATACMS to strengthen their violent counter-attack in the southern region.

This means that important Russian paths for supplies, positions of command, and other important places would be close enough to attack. Moscow would be forced to move them farther away, which would make it more difficult to give supplies and weapons to their troops.

According to Ukraine, the Russian military positions in the areas they have taken control of in southern Ukraine, including Crimea, could be easily attacked.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attacked Ukraine in February 2022, and the Biden administration was unsure about giving Ukraine new weapons at first.

But its position has changed a lot, with Kyiv now having powerful long-range rocket systems called Himars and defensive missiles called Patriot air defence missiles.

However, President Biden has been unsure about sending ATACMS missiles because he is concerned that it might increase the chances of a conflict with Russia, who has nuclear weapons.