Zelenskyy asked Austin to make Ukraine priority for US in providing ATACMS, Austin refused - WSJ
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin refused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's recent request to prioritize Ukraine over other buyers of U.S. ATACMS missiles.
According to Censor.NET, The Wall Street Journal reports this with reference to two American officials and an adviser to the Ukrainian government.
According to one of the officials, Austin told Zelenskyy that breaking off longstanding agreements with other ATACMS buyers would raise "a lot of questions" and is "too much to ask."
"The Pentagon also has limited stockpiles of airborne munitions that it can send to arm F-16 fighters, according to a senior U.S. official and former Defense Department official who participated in the discussions," the publication writes.
Ukraine is pushing for additional ATACMS missile systems, which have a range of up to 200 miles (over 320 kilometers), to strike deep into Russian territory.
However, the United States refuses to send these systems, claiming that Russia has already moved aircraft and other important military targets beyond the ATACMS range, and is wary of escalation with Russia.
Another official noted that arms shipments to Ukraine typically take weeks or even months to arrive, and the impact of increased arms shipments on U.S. military stockpiles, particularly in air defense, is a "major concern."
Therefore, the United States is considering options such as buying weapons from other countries to transfer them to Ukraine, the WSJ adds.
