White House on ATACMS for Ukraine: No decision yet, they are not off the table

The US has not yet decided whether or not to send ATACMS long-range missiles to Ukraine, but they are “not off the table”, White House national security spokesman John Kirby told The Telegraph.

Kirby said the White House was “locked in discussions” over whether to send new ATACMS long-range missiles.

He said: “We will continue to evolve as needed on ATACMS. There has been a long conversation here in the United States about those long range cruise missiles and that conversation is ongoing.”

Kirby added: “No decision has been made yet. The president hasn’t said he’ll do it, but he continues to want the interagency, the defense department, the state department here at the National Security Council to consider ATACMS and we’re going to do that. They are not off the table.”

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Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba had reported on Thursday “progress” in the matter of the US and Germany supplying Kyiv with ATACMS and Taurus long-range missiles.

Kuleba said: “We are actively working on obtaining ATACMS from the US and Taurus from Germany. There is progress on both tracks,” according to state news agency Ukrinform.

Ukraine has long argued for strong air defenses to protect against Russian aerial assaults and be capable to return fire. In August, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that Ukraine’s defenses were not yet capable of protecting its whole territory against Russian attacks.

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