Ukraine may get ATACMS next year, depending on battlefield developments - Kuleba

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba is confident that next year Ukraine will receive ATACMS ballistic missiles with a range of up to 300 km, as well as modern drones, but this will also depend on the situation on the battlefield.

The head of Ukrainian diplomacy stated this in an interview with RBC-Ukraine, Ukrinform reports.

"Next year, yes. But it will also depend on the situation on the battlefield," Kuleba said.

He noted that in the issue of obtaining weapons, there are loud stories that are circulating at the moment involving tanks, warplanes, or ATACMS.

"The army has its specific needs. Relatively speaking, if I were offered a hundred tanks or a hundred howitzers now, I would not hesitate to say a hundred howitzers now, while tanks could come tomorrow – because I know the real demand at the front line and understand that it is now much more critical," said the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to Kuleba, there is a level of symbolic weapons, and there is a level of specific needs of the army as of today, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow.

"And at every meeting of the Supreme CinC Staff, chaired by president, we look at it from this angle: what is needed here and now, and what will be needed tomorrow to defeat the enemy," the minister explained.

At the same time, he noted that the military assistance that foreign partners provided for the past 10 months, including weapons and munitions, is unprecedented both in terms of volumes, range, and number of countries involved in the process.

"Of course, we are at war and we never have enough, so we always ask for more, but we must remember a simple fact: we receive more support than any country has received, at least in the 21st century," Kuleba emphasized.

As Ukrinform reported, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that Patriot systems are included in the new package of military aid to Ukraine in the amount of $1.85 billion. The Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Oleksii Reznikov, said that the Ukrainian military will master the Patriots quickly.

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden is considering the possibility of sending Bradley Fighting Vehicles to Ukraine as part of a further package of military support to defend against Russian aggression.