The United States wants to arm Ukraine with modern anti-ship missiles, - Reuters

The White House is working to deliver modern anti-ship missiles to Ukraine to help it overcome russia's naval blockade.

This was reported by Reuters.

Three US officials and two sources in the US Congress told the agency that the White House is considering two options for the transfer to Ukraine - “Harpoon” produced by Boeing and Naval Strike Missile from Kongsberg and Raytheon Technologies. They can be provided directly by the United States or its European allies, which have such missiles.

AGM / RGM / UGM-84 “Harpoon” - anti-ship missile with subsonic speed and range up to 220 km, in some versions - up to 280 km. It is in service with the United States, Japan and a number of NATO countries.

Naval Strike Missile is a Norwegian anti-ship subsonic missile with a maximum launch range of 250 km. The missile is capable of hitting surface and ground targets.

According to Reuters, there are several problems that prevent Ukraine from getting missiles. In particular, there is limited availability of platforms to launch Harpoons from shore - a technically complex solution - as it is mainly a naval-based missile. Two U.S. officials said the United States was working on potential solutions that included removing the launcher from the U.S. ship.

According to Reuters sources, several countries are ready to send “Harpoons” to Ukraine, but none of them wants to be the first or only country to do so, fearing a response from russia.

Sources in Congress said another option would be to provide Ukraine with NSM missiles by Norway, which has ground-based launchers. According to experts, less than 14 days of training are required to work with these weapons.

According to Brian Clark, a naval expert at the Hudson Institute, 12 to 24 anti-ship missiles, such as the Harpoon, with a range of more than 100 km would be enough to persuade Moscow to lift the blockade.

“If Putin insists, Ukraine can shut down russia's largest ships because they have nowhere to hide in the Black Sea,” Clark said.

Russia has already suffered losses at sea, in particular, the Ukrainian defense forces sank the cruiser “Moskva”, the flagship of its Black Sea Fleet.

Also today the British government announced that it would hand over anti-ship missiles, drones and artillery to Ukraine.