The defense minister stated that the country needed long-range Western missiles to ambush and defeat the Russian forces.
“If we have the opportunity to strike at a distance of 300 km, the Russian army will not be able to maintain its defenses and lose the battle. Ukraine is ready to ensure that your weapons are not involved in the raids aimed at into Russian territory,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on February 2 and announced his readiness to coordinate with Western partners to ambush Russian forces.
Minister Reznikov said Ukraine needs to increase the number of artillery, artillery shells and weapons capable of passing as well as destroying Russian air defense and electronic warfare systems. Ukraine will receive Western tanks after long negotiations and is looking for fighters, Reznikov said.
Mr. Reznikov called on countries to help Ukraine establish missile defense capabilities. He emphasized that the country needs Patriot and SAMP/T complexes as soon as possible, as well as more and more IRIS-T and NASAMS air defense missile systems.
Russia has not commented on the comments of Ukraine’s defense minister.
An ATACMS rocket leaves the HIMARS launch pad at the White Sands range in New Mexico, USA, July 2015. Photo: US Army.
Ukraine has for many months asked the US to transfer the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) to the High Mobility Rocket Artillery Complex (HIMARS). US media reported that Ukraine has transferred a list of targets of Russian forces they want to attack to convince the US to donate ATACMS missiles.
However, the US refused to transfer ATACMS missiles to Ukraine for fear that the country would attack deep into Russian territory, escalate hostilities and lead to direct conflict between Russia and the US.
The administration of US President Joe Biden also confirmed that the Ukrainian military “is doing well” with HIMARS cannons and rockets with a current range of 80 km.
The MGM-140 ATACMS missile is capable of hitting a target 300 km away, nearly four times more than the rocket that the US sent to Ukraine. The missile weighs more than 1.6 tons and can reach speeds of Mach 3.
HIMARS is a self-propelled multiple rocket launcher mounted on a wheeled chassis, developed from the M270 complex. The HIMARS system transferred to Ukraine is staffed with a crew of three, able to carry six 227 mm caliber M31 shells with a range of 80-90 km. The US has delivered to Ukraine 20 HIMARS batteries with an undisclosed amount of rockets.
Russian-Ukrainian war front. Graphics: WP.
Nguyen Tien (Theo CNN)