Ukraine’s Zelenskiy thanks Biden for ATACM missiles

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday he had thanked U.S. President Joe Biden for supplying long-range ATACMS missiles and Kyiv’s foreign minister said the military would be receiving them regularly.

Zelenskiy, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said he had expressed thanks to Biden in a telephone conversation for “effective implementation of our recent defence agreements”.

“Ukrainians have been very inspired by the acquisition of ATACMS missiles and our servicemen are successfully using them on the battlefield,” he wrote.

The two leaders, Zelenskiy wrote, discussed “further strengthening our long-range capabilities”.

The White House said on Tuesday it had supplied Kyiv with ATACMS missiles and Zelenskiy said his forces had used such missiles in action.

Kyiv had repeatedly requested the ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems), suggesting they could alter the course of the war with Russia.

Asked whether regular shipments and larger numbers of missiles were expected, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said: “It means this.”

“And this is a direct result of the agreement between President Zelenskiy and President Biden, reached in Washington during a personal meeting in late September,” he said in televised comments.

It is not clear how many missiles have already been delivered. According to the New York Times, citing two Western officials, the U.S. has sent about 20 of them so far.