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Russian analysts and former officials have warned that a reported transfer of U.S.-made weapons from Türkiye to Ukraine, including ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles, could delay a settlement of the Ukraine conflict and damage trust between Ankara and Moscow, according to Russian media.
New potential American arms deliveries to Kyiv via Türkiye will push back the prospects for resolving the conflict in Ukraine, Ivan Timofeev, director general of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), told TASS.
"From the Russian point of view, this distances the prospects for a settlement. From the American point of view, it does not, because the U.S. is not interested in Ukraine suffering a military defeat, let alone a crushing military defeat. They want it to be a compromise on more or less equal terms, without Kyiv's defeat. The Russian side, meanwhile, is working toward achieving the objectives that were set, including military success. So our approaches inevitably diverge here," Timofeev said.
He said it was unrealistic to have expected neutrality from Washington on Ukraine following the Russia-U.S. summit in Anchorage a year ago.
"There is no neutrality whatsoever. The U.S. remains a country that supports Ukraine. Although the tone has changed, and President Donald Trump is trying to bring more pragmatism into this process by raising questions about the cost of this assistance, the prospects of recovering that money, and so on. But supplies continue through third countries. Perhaps, and our military probably knows this better, intelligence data, satellite, aerial and so on, is also being provided. So, on the whole, nothing has changed here, and it could hardly have changed," Timofeev said.
"The only thing that has changed is that if the Americans previously did this directly, now they have distanced themselves somewhat toward indirect deliveries, which does not diminish their significance," he concluded.
Retired Turkish Air Force Col. Ihsan Sefa, a former Turkish military attaché, told RIA Novosti that a reported Turkish arms transfer to Ukraine could cause enormous damage to relations between Ankara and Moscow and undermine Russia's trust in Türkiye.
"If these claims are confirmed, this will cause enormous damage to relations between Türkiye and Russia, and will also undermine trust in Türkiye," he said.
Russia's Foreign Ministry has requested clarification from the U.S. and Türkiye following information disclosed by the U.S. Congress about plans to supply arms to Kyiv, ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Saturday, according to a statement.
The Russian reaction follows a series of documents published in the U.S. Congressional Record on Aug. 6 detailing a proposed transfer of Turkish-held, U.S.-origin weapons to Ukraine.
The U.S. State Department notified Congress of a proposed permanent transfer including 12 M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) launchers and 70 M39 ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles, along with 2,524 M26 rockets and 47,000 M509A1 203mm artillery rounds.
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