Ukraine may run out of US ATACMS missiles

The wreckage of an ATACMS missile in the Kursk region. Photo: Russian Ministry of Defence

Ukraine is restricting the use of ATACMS missiles due to the depletion of stocks and a possible change in US President-elect Donald Trump's policy of allowing strikes deep into Russia.

This was reported by The New York Times, citing US officials, according to «Ukrayinska Pravda».

The newspaper notes that in the spring, the United States handed over about 500 ATACMS missiles to Ukraine from the Pentagon's warehouses. Initially, Ukraine did not have permission to use these missiles to strike Russian territory, so they were used to hit targets in the occupied territories, including Crimea.

However, in mid-November, the administration of US President Joe Biden allowed Kyiv to use these missiles to strike deep into Russian territory, but at that time Ukraine had only «dozens of missiles».

The newspaper also cited two US officials as saying that there was no possibility of obtaining additional missiles because the limited stockpile of these weapons had already been deployed to the Middle East and Asia.

According to the New York Times, based on information from the Russian Ministry of Defence and military bloggers, after receiving permission from the United States and the United Kingdom, Ukraine conducted at least six missile strikes, using at least 31 ATACMS missiles and 14 Storm Shadow missiles.

It was noted that the Ukrainian military did not comment on the use of these missiles, and the United States and Ukraine did not refute the published figures.

As a reminder, the Russian Ministry of Defence said that on the night of 19 November, the Ukrainian military struck a military facility in the Bryansk region with six ATACMS missiles.