New Yorker: Issue Of Transferring ATACMS To Ukraine Was Decided By One Case

• 10.10.2023, 13:16

It became known what prompted the Biden administration to make the decision.

US President Joe Biden decided to transfer long-range ATACMS to Ukraine back in September — on the eve of a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.

As the New Yorker writes, without citing a specific source, this decision in favor of Ukraine prompted the White House to make a similar decision to Great Britain on sending Storm Shadows.

Journalists note that the issue of long-range missiles “has become a particularly sore point” during discussions between congressmen and the Biden administration. The White House was worried until the very end that ATACMS could escalate the situation and drag the United States into the war.

But as soon as London announced the transfer of Storm Shadow, Washington thought again. The authors of the publication recall that the Pentagon then named only one limiting factor — the risk of depletion of US reserves in case of “unforeseen circumstances,” for example, a war with Iran or China.

But those arguments failed to convince members of Congress from both parties, who called on Biden to “immediately” provide ATACMS to Ukraine.

“In September, shortly before Zelensky made his second visit to Washington after the invasion, Biden approved sending ATACMS to Ukraine after nearly a year of resisting the idea,” the newspaper writes.