(Dan Tri) – The Russian Ministry of Defense said that air defense forces shot down two US-made ATACMS missiles during a military campaign in Ukraine.
HIMARS system is made in the US (Photo: Te legogram).
`In the past 24 hours, air defense forces have intercepted two US-made ATACMS tactical missiles, one S-200 surface-to-air missile converted to attack ground targets, two anti-aircraft missiles.
The Russian Ministry of Defense previously did not report the destruction of the ATACMS missile.
Early last week, Ukraine announced that it had used ATACMS missiles donated by the US for the first time in the war, causing heavy damage to two military airports in Russian-controlled areas, destroying 9 helicopters,
GeoConfirmed, a community platform specializing in open source intelligence data in the Ukrainian conflict, cited satellite image analysis results showing that Ukraine may have disabled 21 Russian helicopters in the first use of ATACMS missiles.
The US confirmed that it had transferred to Ukraine ATACMS missiles with an attack range of 165km.
Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov warned that the US decision to send long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine was a big mistake and would cause serious consequences.
Foreign Minister Kuleba said on October 19 that the results of the exchange between US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky showed that Washington will soon send Ukraine ATACMS missiles with an attack range nearly twice that of ATACMS missiles.
The first batch of ATACMS delivered to Ukraine was an older version of the MGM-140, manufactured by Lockheed Martin in the 1990s, with a range of up to 165km.
Mr. Kuleba believes that the next batch of missiles will include a newer version and can reach targets at distances of up to 300km.
Ukraine has repeatedly asked the US to provide ATACMS and pledged not to use them against Russian territory, to reassure Washington about the risk that ATACMS missiles could escalate the conflict beyond control.
It is still unclear how ATACMS will help turn the situation around, but Ukraine believes that this missile will force Russia to move key weapons away from the front lines.
