Kyiv to send American Javelin anti-tank missile systems to Ukrainian military in Donbas
Ukrainian military will receive American anti-tank systems Javelin during the rotation in the combat zone in the Donbas, stated the Chief of the General Staff Ruslan Khomchak in an interview with ArmiaInform.
"Brigades of the Armed Forces will receive Javelins during the rotation in the combat zone. Currently, one of the brigades which is completing training before deployment to the Donbas, is working out the tactics for their use... Personally, I want to make sure that our soldiers can effectively use these anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs)," he said.
"In addition, in preparing this brigade for rotation, we will work out the use of Bayraktar drones," Khomchak added.
He also noted that the Ukrainian Armed Forces already have "a lot of units which are ready to use Javelins” but did not specify their specific number.
"How many of them? It’s a secret," the Chief of the General Staff said.
In December last year, Ukraine signed a contract with the United States for the supply of Javelin ATGMs. Prior to that, in October, the U.S. Congress gave preliminary consent to the sale to Ukraine of an additional batch of anti-tank missile systems Javelin for $39 million.
The first batch of Javelins worth $47 million arrived in Ukraine in the spring of 2018. Then-Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch said that Ukraine did not have to pay for these weapons. In the fall of 2017, the American edition of BuzzFeed, citing sources in the U.S. government, wrote that U.S. President Donald Trump does not want to give Ukraine weapons for free.
Shortly thereafter, the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker said that the program of military assistance to Ukraine provides both free weapons and its sale. In the summer of 2019, the U.S. Embassy reported that Ukraine for the first time asked the U.S. to sell weapons.
On June 17, 2020, a batch of American Javelin missiles arrived in Ukraine under contract.