US committed to sustainable ATACMS deliveries after effective use of first 20 – FM Kuleba

The United States will regularly supply long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine and their number will increase, Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba said on the 1+1 broadcast.

Asked whether the delivery of the first batch of missiles means that Washington will provide them to Ukraine regularly and in larger quantities, Ukraine's top diplomat confirmed this.

This is a direct result of the agreements between Presidents Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Joe Biden , which were reached in Washington during their personal meeting at the end of September.

"If you read between the lines of President Zelenskyy's speech after the meeting with Biden, you could understand from it that a very important decision was made. Therefore, we thank the United States for fulfilling the agreements and for strengthening our firepower," he said.

Responding to the presenter's remark that the missiles installed are older than 27 years, Kuleba said: "There is a saying: if you knew what sausage is made of, you wouldn't eat it. It's not about a year here, the main thing for us is that it shoots."

The minister expressed hope that in the future Washington will hand over ATACMS to Ukraine with an increased flight range of up to 300 km (missiles from the first batch fly up to 165 km – ed.).

In the early hours of October 17, Ukraine struck the airfields in Russian-occupied Luhansk and Berdyansk. This was the first use of American ATACMS ballistic missiles with a cluster warhead, which is perfect for airfield strikes.

According to the New York Ttimes, the USA handed over about 20 ATACMS to Kyiv in the first batch.