The Kremlin said on Thursday that the delivery of US ATACMS missiles to Kiev would not change anything in the conflict in Ukraine, after Washington announced that it would supply Ukraine with such long-range missiles, the first of which had already been secretly delivered and used by the Ukrainian military on early this month, AFP and EFE agencies report, Agerpres transmits.
“The United States is directly involved in this conflict, they have started on a path that aims to increase the range of action of the weapon systems”, the spokesman of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Dmitri Peskov, told the press. The delivery of these missiles to Ukraine “will not be able to change the outcome of the special military operation”, believes Peskov, referring to the Russian military campaign against Ukraine.
Russian officials have repeatedly accused the US of involvement in this conflict not only by supplying Ukraine with weapons and ammunition, but also by providing it with information about Russian targets obtained with the help of satellites, reconnaissance drones and spy planes.
The delivery of ATACMS missiles with a range of about 300 kilometers will allow the Ukrainian army to hit several such targets of the Russian army far behind the front. Such missiles were already secretly supplied to Kiev in March and were used on April 17 in an attack on a Russian airfield in Crimea, where an S-400 anti-aircraft system was destroyed.
Previously, the United States offered Ukraine ATACMS missiles, but with a shorter range of 165 kilometers. Those to be delivered now are included in a military aid package of about $1 billion, the first that Washington is offering to Kiev after Congress unlocked new support funds for Ukraine, totaling $60.8 billion. Until this aid is unblocked, the total financial and military assistance provided to Ukraine by the US since the Russian invasion began in February 2022 amounts to approximately 113 billion dollars.
Tags: United States involved conflict Ukraine claims Kremlin
