BEIJING, October 18. /TASS/. US supplies of Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to Ukraine create an additional threat but Russia will be able to repel such attacks, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a press conference following his visit to China.

"First, this is certainly hazardous and creates an additional threat. Second, we will definitely be able to repel these attacks," he said.

According to Putin, such missile supplies pose a threat. "But most importantly, it has no chance to radically change the situation on the line of contact. It’s impossible. This is a certainty," the Russian president stressed.

He said the US was making yet another mistake by supplying ATACMS. "There are several reasons why," Putin explained. "First, had they [the Americans] not supplied weapons, they would have been able to say later: ‘See, had we provided them with everything we have, the situation would have changed but it would have led to unnecessary casualties. So we did a good job not making the move.’ However, they did make the move. Still, there will be no result. This is reason enough to say that it’s a mistake," Putin explained.

He noted that "there is nothing good" here for Ukraine, either. "It is only prolonging [its] agony," Putin added. "Finally, one more mistake - a bigger one, as yet unseen, but still important - is that the US is becoming more and more involved in the conflict; that’s obvious. There is no need for anyone to say that they [the Americans] have nothing to do with it all. We believe that they do," the president concluded.

The Ukrainian armed forces earlier used US-made ATACMS missiles with cluster warheads against Russia, which was confirmed by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. CNN reported that the US administration had secretly sent ATACMS missiles to the Kiev authorities in order to try to take Russian forces by surprise. According to Russian sources, Ukraine used ATACMS missile in attacks on Berdyansk in the Zaporozhye Region and Skadovsk in the Kherson Region.