Ukrainian government officials are asking the US for additional weapons systems and ammunition amid a major counter-offensive that has successfully pushed Russia out of major cities in northeastern Ukraine.
Against the new impetus, Ukrainian officials have told US lawmakers that the military needs new equipment to sustain the effort. Specifically, they say they need the Army’s long-range Tactical Missile Systems, known as Atacms, that can fire up to 289 kilometers, according to one source, who saw the list and described it to the public. CNN .
The US is reluctant to supply the Atacms out of concern that they could be used to fire on Russia and potentially escalate the conflict further.
But in an analysis published last week, two Ukrainian generals — General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi and Lieutenant General Mykhailo Zabrodskyi — said Ukraine is at a disadvantage because the Russians have assets that can fire up to 1931 kilometers, while the Ukrainian systems have a Maximum range of about 96 kilometers.
“Thus, since the beginning of large-scale aggression, Russian weapons can hit targets 20 times farther than Ukrainian ones,” they wrote.
When Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was asked why the US has not yet sent Atacms to Ukraine despite the Ukrainians’ request, Austin said the US is in “constant communication” with Ukraine about what weapons it needs and emphasized: “No it’s just about a particular weapon or weapon system.”
“It’s about how you integrate these systems and how you integrate the efforts of various elements in the inventory to create effects that give Ukrainians an advantage,” he said during a press conference in Prague on September 9.
The source said the Ukrainians also said they needed 2,000 more missiles for their high-mobility artillery rocket systems, which the US began supplying earlier this summer, as well as additional Harpoon anti-ship missiles and more drones and tanks.
The wish list was first released by the Wall Street Journal.
The Biden administration has committed nearly $15 billion in security assistance to Ukraine this year alone.
THE CNN reported last week that the Pentagon is preparing a detailed analysis and working on how to support Ukraine’s military in the medium and long term, including after the end of the war with Russia, according to three defense officials.
The efforts are being led by the Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, and would build on the billions of dollars in military aid the US has given Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February.
Source: CNN Brasil
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