US rejects providing long-range missiles to Ukraine to maintain its 'own inventories'

The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff ruled out the possibility of the Pentagon providing long-range missiles to war-hit Ukraine, citing a small stockpile as the reason. In a virtual conversation with the Defence One outlet, General Mark Milley was asked if Washington was considering to offer ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) missiles to Kyiv. The missiles have a strike range of up to 300 kilometers, according to TASS. 

Responding to the question, Milley said: "Well, there's a policy decision to date not to, so far. And I would never predict anything on the table, off the table, for the future." "But from a military standpoint, we have relatively few ATACMS, we do have to make sure that we maintain our own munitions inventories, as well. And the range of the weapon - I think there's a little bit of overstating of what an ATACMS can do and can't do," he added.

"You're looking at a single shot, so think of a musket versus a repeating rifle. Whereas the GMLRS fires six shots, and ATACMs fires one. Now the range of the ATACMS is longer, but there's other systems they can get you that range," he explained. The top military official also touched upon unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which can also serve the same purpose.

US Joint Chiefs of Staff rules out supplying ATACMS to Ukraine

"There’s UAVs, for example, that could do it, and the Brits have a couple of systems. So, those are some things that we're looking at to give them a little bit more legs. But right now, we're not providing the ATACMS," Milley elucidated. Meanwhile, Ukraine has constantly called for the supply of ATACMS to boost its defence against Russian aggression.

Earlier this year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the West to supply the longer-range missile system and get rid of the "taboos” about the provision of advanced weapons. “It would be possible to stop this Russian terror if we could source the appropriate missiles for our military forces,” Zelenskyy said in an address in January, adding that “Ukraine needs long-range missiles to prevent (the Russian) occupiers from placing their missile launchers somewhere far from the front line".