00:00The United States is, once again, stopping Ukraine from attacking Russia with certain
00:04weapons.
00:05In President Donald Trump's own words, it is very hard, if not impossible, to win a
00:11war without attacking an invader's country.
00:20Reporters at the Wall Street Journal broke the story.
00:23According to the outlet, the U.S. implemented new approval procedures in the spring for
00:29when Ukraine wanted to use the Army's tactical missiles, or ATAKIMs, to hit targets deep behind
00:36the front lines in Russian territory.
00:38The new rules for ATAKIMs' use in Ukraine effectively reversed former President Joe
00:43Biden's decision, which came late in his presidency, to allow Ukraine to use ATAKIMs missiles on
00:50Russian targets deep behind enemy lines.
00:53The ATAKIMs missile has a published range of around 190 miles.
00:59The new approval process was put in place by Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon's undersecretary
01:05for policy, and essentially gives the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, final say
01:11about Ukraine's use of ATAKIMs.
01:14Now, the last batch of ATAKIMs approved during Biden's tenure was delivered to Ukraine this
01:20spring.
01:20We don't really know how many ATAKIMs Ukraine has left, but it's thought to be a pretty
01:25small supply.
01:26However, the Pentagon's new deep strike approval process also applies to European-supplied weaponry
01:34that relies on U.S. satellite intelligence for targeting, things like storm-shadow missiles.
01:42Just last week, President Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social account about Ukraine not
01:47being able to win without attacking Russia, and he criticized President Biden for only
01:53ever allowing Ukraine to defend itself, not fight back.
01:58Some administration officials are trying to clarify that statement now, saying it does not
02:03mean the United States is going to change the new deep strike approval process, but leaving
02:09the door open for President Trump to change or amend the process if he so decides.
02:15Like we said earlier, this is not the first time the U.S. put restrictions on Ukraine using
02:20American-made weapons in general, or even ATAKIMs specifically.
02:26The war was raging for about a year and a half before Biden approved sending ATAKIMs to
02:31Ukraine, and it was even longer before Ukraine was allowed to use the long-range variants of
02:37the missiles.
02:37While U.S. systems are certainly among the most powerful in Ukraine's arsenal, they are
02:46not the only long-range strike options.
02:49Ukraine is experiencing quite a bit of success with some slower-moving fixed-wing drones.
02:55There are plenty of Russian oil facilities that can attest to that.
02:59Ukraine is also ramping up production of the FP-1, Kyiv's version of the Iranian-designed
03:05Shahed one-way attack drones.
03:07Both of those options are slower-moving, though, and are somewhat limited in terms of payload.
03:13The newly announced Flamingo long-range cruise missile does not have either of those problems.
03:20It was domestically developed by Ukrainian-based startup Firepoint in about nine months.
03:26The Flamingo weighs six tons at takeoff.
03:28During some recent test launches, it proved it can carry a 2,500-pound warhead and hit
03:35targets at around 1,800 miles away.
03:38The Flamingo is in serial production now, with Firepoint eventually aiming to put out about
03:44200 or so a month, munitions which can hit hardened targets in Russia without the need
03:51for U.S. coordination or approval.
03:54For more reporting like this, download the Straight Arrow News app today.
03:58Bye.
Comments