Russia: US sending long-range GLSDB missiles to Ukraine is 'special response' to Il-76 attack
(Baonghean.vn) - According to RT on February 2, Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said that the US sending high-precision long-range GLSDB missiles to Ukraine was a "special response" by Washington to Ukraine's attack that shot down a Russian Il-76 military aircraft.
“Instead of acknowledging the terrible crimes of its own “clients”, the United States is sending them new deadly weapons. Thus, not even by words, but by actions, it is provoking its puppets to commit new atrocities,” Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov stressed in a comment to the media.
According to Ambassador Antonov, Washington's confirmation that a shipment of GLSDB long-range ammunition is on its way to Kiev is a "negation of all assurances" by the White House about its desire to achieve a quick end to the conflict in Ukraine.
Mr. Antonov said that this action showed the intention of the Kiev authorities to prolong the suffering, even if this meant new casualties, including among Ukrainian and Russian civilians.
As head of the Russian delegation at the Vienna talks on military security and arms control, Diplomat Konstantin Gavrilov recalled that the United States had delivered high-precision GLSDB ammunition to the Ukrainian armed forces to serve in the fight against the Russian armed forces.
Earlier, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said that the US would soon provide high-precision guided missiles GLSDB to Ukraine. According to Reuters, the shipment will be delivered in "a few days".
It is worth noting that the Pentagon promised to provide Ukraine with GLSDB artillery shells with a range of up to 150 km a year ago, specifically in February 2023, including them in the next military aid package. At the same time, the US administration left Kiev the right to decide on the possibility of using long-range ammunition in Crimea.
Then, on March 28, 2023, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that the GLSDB guided missile was intercepted by air defense systems for the first time. However, the White House refused to confirm this information.
On January 30, 2024, the official representative of the US Department of Defense, Patrick Ryder, announced that the Pentagon is ready to transfer high-precision GLSDB missiles to Ukraine. However, he refused to disclose the specific delivery date “for security reasons”. At the same time, the Pentagon representative emphasized that the US is working closely with the Kiev government and its “industrial partners” so that Ukraine can receive and use the money provided by the US “as soon as possible”.
On the same day, Politico quoted US officials as saying that the GLSDB bomb, capable of covering a distance of about 150 km, is expected to give Ukraine greater strike potential and will supplement Kiev's long-range arsenal.
According to Politico, the GLSDB was developed by the Swedish company Saab and the US company Boeing and consists of a “high-precision guided bomb” weighing about 115 kg, attached to a rocket engine.
