Russia reported this Wednesday for the first time the downing of US long-range ATACMS missiles by its air defense systems.
“Last day, two American-made ATACMS tactical missiles were intercepted,” stated the Russian Ministry of Defense in its daily report, published on Telegram.
In addition, according to the military statement, Russian anti-aircraft systems shot down an S-200 anti-aircraft missile modified to attack ground targets, two HIMARS missiles and two HARM anti-radar missiles.
On the 17th, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked his American counterpart, Joe Biden, by telephone for sending the first batch of ATACMS long-distance missiles, with which he attacked Russian military airfields located more than eighty kilometers away that same day. from the front in two areas occupied by Russia.
The next day, Russian President Vladimir Putin, at a press conference in Beijing, assured that the supply of ATACMS missiles to Ukraine “will not be able to radically change the situation” on the front.
The Army’s conventional tactical missile system (ATACMS) is a high-precision surface-to-surface attack system with a range of up to 300 kilometers manufactured by the American company Lockheed Martin.
The US has supplied Ukraine with a version of ATACMS with a reduced range, up to 165 kilometers, to prevent it from being used against Russian territory.
According to Zelensky, Ukraine needs long-range missiles to prevent the Russian Army from destroying cities with missile launchers installed in areas far from the front.
