Pentagon: there is a limited number of ATACMS

The U.S. Department of Defense said that the ban on Ukraine's use of U.S. weapons for long-range strikes on the territory of the aggressor country, Russia, is due to several reasons. Among them is a limited number of ATACMS missiles.

This was reported by RBC-Ukraine with reference to a statement by Deputy Pentagon Spokesperson Sabrina Singh during a briefing.

Answering journalists' questions about the Ukrainian side's calls to lift the “taboo” on long-range strikes on targets in Russia, the US Defense Department spokeswoman repeated yesterday's words of the White House representative regarding the significant remoteness of Russian aviation locations.

“Our intelligence estimates that 90 percent of Russian aircraft launching cruise bombs and missiles into Ukraine are located at airfields 300 kilometers from Ukrainian-controlled territory,” she said.

Thus, Singh added, these airfields “now put it outside the range of ATACMS.”

“So ATACMS will not be able to reach these airfields, so the problems created by these gliding bombs, you know, will remain. And even if Ukraine were to use ATACMS against a very small percentage of the airfields that remain in the area of operation, we have seen the Russian military move these airfields further away,” she said in a statement.

Therefore, the representative of the U.S. Defense Department emphasized, the impact of such strikes “will be very small and of very little strategic value.”

And when asked by journalists what the purpose of the restrictions on Ukraine's long-range strikes against Russia with American weapons is, whether it is because of the limited number of ATACMS or because of “fear of escalation,” Singh said that “a little bit of everything.”

“There is a limited number of ATACMS. It's not true - there are not a lot of these long-range capabilities. And, of course, one thing that we always evaluate is escalation, and that's something that we've been very clear about from the beginning. So, it's a little bit of all those things tied together,” she replied.

The Pentagon spokeswoman added that the Ukrainian Armed Forces “have been very successful in using these ATACMS to take back their territory in the south and east.”

“And we believe they have the capability and the ability to bring them together on the battlefield. You know, they have a really serious challenge in the east, and we continue to work with them to put some of the firepower that they have in that direction,” Singh said.

Author - Dmitriy Levchenko, 06/09/2024