NYT: The US has sent Ukraine about 20 ATACMS missiles with cluster warheads
The US has transferred about 20 ATACMS missiles with cluster warheads to Ukraine under the condition that the Ukrainian military will not use them for attacks on Russian territory, the New York Times reported citing high-ranking sources.
Earlier, Adrian Watson, a spokeswoman for the US National Security Council, confirmed that Washington had recently handed Kiev ATACMS missiles with a range of up to 165 kilometres. The Associated Press reported that “less than a dozen” missiles, which can be launched from HIMARS MLRS launchers, had been sent to Ukraine.
“The United States sent about 20 missiles to Ukraine … One of the conditions placed on the Ukrainians is that the ATACMS… can not be used for attacks on the territory of Russia”, – stated in the material. According to the newspaper, the version of the ATACMS missile handed over to Ukraine carries a cluster warhead.
Deliveries of missiles with a reduced range of 165 kilometres have not been pre-announced. The New Yorker magazine recently wrote that US President Joe Biden approved the transfer of ATACMS back in August.
M74 cluster munitions from US ATACMS ballistic missiles were found in Berdyansk, Zaporozhye region, after overnight strikes by the AFU, Vladimir Rogov, head of the Zaporozhye public movement “We are together with Russia,” told RIA Novosti earlier. On Tuesday, Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada deputy Oleksiy Honcharenko claimed that ATACMS missiles were used by the AFU in a strike on Berdyansk.
Russian Ambassador to the USA Anatoliy Antonov said in connection with the transfer of ATACMS operational-tactical missiles to Ukraine that the USA was pursuing a line towards a complete shutdown of bilateral relations and a direct clash between NATO and Russia.
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