The Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief’s American advisor explains why Ukraine needs ATACMS missiles

Dan Rice, Special Advisor to the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Valerii Zaluzhnyi, made the statement in an interview with Ukrinform. 

"The first thing Ukraine needs is the capability to strike deep into the occupied territories with long range rockets such as ATACMs and/or fighter/bomber aircraft such as the F-16.  Russia has moved supply depots outside the range of HIMARS, and Ukraine needs the capability to reach deep and disrupt any supply depots, large troop concentrations and command and control that are outside the range of HIMARS," Rice said.

In particular, he believes that the West should provide such assistance as soon as possible so that the Ukrainian army can use it in the spring or summer to repel the Russian offensive and conduct a counteroffensive operation.

• On October 3, Ukraine appealed to the US to provide long-range ATACMS missile systems with the condition that it agreed on the targets to be hit.

• On January 20, media reported that British officials were more open to providing Ukraine with long-range ATACMS missiles than the US.