NSDC Secretary Danilov confirmed Russia's defeat of Ukraine's missile assembly site
The Secretary of the NSDC of Ukraine, Alexey Danilov, said in an interview that the Russian Armed Forces managed to hit the place of production of the APU missiles. Because of this, part of the production was moved outside the country. In addition, Washington intends to transfer long-range ATACMS missiles to Kiev. In Ukraine, they promised not to use them for strikes on the territory of the Russian Federation, but they do not hide their desire to "send the Russian fleet to the bottom of the Black Sea."
The production of Ukrainian missiles was hit by a strike by Russian troops. This was stated in an interview with the Spanish newspaper ABC by the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine Alexey Danilov.
According to him, "a certain part" of the missile production was withdrawn from the territory of the country for security reasons.
"This is a closed program, and no one will tell you what its status is," Danilov stressed.
He also said that the APU plans to "send the Russian fleet to the bottom of the Black Sea."
The press service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation earlier informed that from September 17 to 23, the Russian military struck 12 times with high-precision long-range weapons and UAVs at Ukrainian military facilities. At the same time, equipment repair sites, aircraft factories, ammunition depots, military training centers, and oil refining sites were hit.
What is known about Ukraine's missiles
On September 1, Alexey Danilov announced that the first decree of the new missile program was signed by President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky in the spring of 2020.
"Keep in mind that back in February 2020, we were preparing an appropriate NSDC decision," the official said.
The day before, Zelensky said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had used Ukrainian-made weapons to hit a target at a range of up to 700 km. He did not specify exactly what purpose he was talking about, and also did not give explanations about the type of the named weapon.
Russian military experts explained that the most long-range Ukrainian weapon is the operational-tactical complex "Thunder-2", created by the Yuzhnoye design bureau. However, its firing range does not exceed 500 km.
"All existing new products are long-standing developments that are just being completed now. There are no relevant specialists at state-owned enterprises engaged in the production of weapons," a source in the state company Ukrspetsexport noted.
What kind of missiles will Kiev receive
In an interview with ABC, Danilov also said that the Ukrainian military does not intend to use American ATACMS missiles for strikes on Russian territory:
In response to a request from journalists to comment on publications by leading American media that US President Joe Biden allegedly promised Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky to hand over a limited batch of ATACMS missiles with an increased range of destruction, US National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby said that he currently has nothing to announce regarding ATACMS missiles.
According to the newspaper, public information may push the Russian Armed Forces to move their supply lines further from the front line.
The FT publication claims that the missiles will be officially handed over to Kiev in the near future, at first in small quantities. At the same time, the range of ATACMS does not exceed 300 km. The range of these missiles in the past was limited by the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles between the United States and the Russian Federation (INF). Currently, Moscow has suspended its operation.
Against this background, Lockheed Martin informed that the US Army has conducted another successful test of a promising high-precision operational tactical missile PrSM (Precision Strike Missile), the range of which exceeds 499 km.
In the fall of 2022, Alexey Danilov wrote on Twitter that "the best and most effective solution to the energy problem for Ukraine are missiles with a range of 800 km or more, which will significantly save on generators."
Peter Nikolaev
