According to officials cited by ABC News, ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) missiles may be included in the next arms package for Ukraine.
“They’re coming,” said a television interviewer. However, he stressed that the final decision is yet to be taken. The other said a decision was “on the table,” although he said approval could take months.
What do we know about new weapons for Ukraine?
ATACMS are ballistic missiles fired from HIMARS and M270 MLRS rocket launchers. They have been on the Ukrainians’ wish list for more than a year, but Joe Biden’s administration has so far refused to send them.
President Biden said last fall that he did not want the Ukrainians to attack targets in Russia and start World War III. Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley explained to the US that these missiles were too few. However, this summer there was a change in attitude. At the end of the NATO summit in Vilnius in July, Biden said he would consider supplying Ukraine with these weapons.
Since the spring, the Ukrainian armed forces have had missiles of similar range and destructive power in the form of British Storm Shadow air-to-ground missiles and their French SCALP counterparts. However, they are launched from Ukrainian planes.