US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has informed Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky that violating long-standing US arms deals with other customers awaiting ATACMS missile systems is “too much to ask,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
The US has sent Ukraine an unknown number of MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, and Kiev has for months been requesting more – as well as permission to strike deeper into Russian territory.
The Pentagon has been hesitant to send additional missiles, arguing that Moscow has already relocated its valuable targets out of range, and that the US military has a finite number of ATACMS in its stockpiles.
Additionally, the US has obligations to paying customers who ordered the systems first. The Pentagon chief rejected Zelensky’s recent plea to prioritize the delivery of ATACMS to Ukraine, insisting that breaking existing arms deals would be “a lot to ask,” according to the WSJ, which cited two US officials and a Ukrainian government adviser.
The US has reportedly been exploring other options, urging its allies to send missiles from their stockpiles and even considering buying back weapons it sold to other countries. However, a CNN report earlier this year stated that the US has “made it clear that Kiev should not expect another significant delivery of ATACMS.”
Washington and its NATO partners have provided Ukraine with three types of long-range missile systems: American-made ATACMS with a range of 300km, as well as British Storm Shadow and French SCALP missiles, each with a range of about 250km. Kiev has repeatedly used these missiles to target Russian infrastructure and civilian areas, including a strike that killed four people and injured over 150 on a beach in Crimea’s Sevastopol.
On his latest trip to Washington to present the so-called “victory plan” to Kiev’s main sponsor, Zelensky “secretly” requested Tomahawk missiles, whose 2,400-kilometer range far exceeds any of the Western-made weapons previously supplied. NYT sources described the request as “totally unfeasible,” labeling it “unrealistic and dependent almost entirely on Western aid.” Zelensky has neither confirmed nor denied the request, but expressed frustration over the public disclosure of classified details from his discussions with the White House.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that if the West permits long-range strikes using foreign-made weapons against Russia, it would signify that NATO is “waging war” against the country. He said Kiev is incapable of carrying out such attacks independently, as they require targeting data that can only be provided by the US-led bloc.
Putin also proposed changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine, stating that Moscow would treat an attack by a non-nuclear nation backed by a nuclear state as a joint assault on Russia when determining a retaliatory response. He later expressed hope that Kiev’s Western backers heard the warning.