White House denies Russia shot down 6 Ukrainian ATACMS missiles
(Baonghean.vn) - Mr. John Kirby - strategic communications coordinator at the White House National Security Council denied the information that the Russian army shot down 6 ATACMS missiles of Ukraine aided by the US.
According to RIA Novosti, at a press conference with reporters on April 30, when asked about the ATACMS long-range missile that the US provided to Ukraine being shot down by Russia, John Kirby, the strategic communications coordinator at the White House National Security Council, said: "No. There is no report confirming that one of the ATACMS missiles was shot down."
However, Mr. Kirby did not provide any evidence to confirm his answer. The White House spokesman also avoided the question of exactly how many ATACMS missiles the US transferred to Ukraine.
Earlier, also on April 30, the Russian Defense Ministry said that its air defense system shot down 10 Ukrainian drones, 6 US-made ATACMS missiles and 2 French-made Hammer bombs.
The Russian Defense Ministry did not specify where the missiles were shot down. However, Crimean President Sergei Aksyonov said Russian air defense systems shot down ATACMS missiles in Crimea.
Recently, the US media reported that the US secretly provided ATACMS to Ukraine even after the two houses of Congress approved the $61 billion aid package, and the Ukrainian military immediately used the weapons. This is part of the $300 million aid package that US President Joe Biden approved on March 12.
The New York Times also said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces will be able to use ATACMS missiles provided by the US to attack Crimea.
Ukraine used the ATACMS for the first time with a range of 300km on April 17, targeting a Russian airbase about 165km from the front line./.
