According to the newspaper, a group of 10 members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to the administration of the American president calling for the delivery of ATACMS tactical missile systems to Kiev as soon as possible
WASHINGTON, June 8. /tass/. The administration of US President Joe Biden is under pressure from US lawmakers who insist on the supply of long-range ammunition to Ukraine. This was reported by the Politico newspaper on Thursday.
According to her, a group of 10 members of the House of Representatives, Democrats and Republicans, sent a letter to the administration of the American president calling for the delivery of ATACMS tactical missile systems to Kiev as soon as possible. The congressmen justify their position by the fact that ATACMS are launched from HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems, which are already at the disposal of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), therefore they will not require long-term training in the handling of Ukrainian soldiers and the organization of new supply chains.
"I think transferring them [ATACMS] from our stocks and sending them to Ukraine <...> is an acceptable risk while we move on to the next generation of long-range missiles," said the initiator of the appeal, Jason Crowe (Democrat from Colorado). According to him, the indecision in the issue of ATACMS supplies is caused by the Pentagon's limited missile stocks, but Crowe stressed that the long-term strategy of the United States is still to move from these complexes to more modern, improved missiles.
The authors of the letter urge Biden to approve the supply of other advanced weapons, including F-16 fighter jets and additional air defense systems, in particular, another Patriot missile defense system. "The ability to control the airspace and have air superiority on Ukrainian territory will be key, and they [the Armed Forces of Ukraine], of course, cannot implement it with the old fighters they have," Crowe said. The congressmen also ask the White House to speed up the delivery of Abrams tanks, which are planned to be delivered to Ukraine by the end of the year.
Earlier, the State Department stated that the US administration has no plans to supply ATACMS to Kiev at this stage. The spokeswoman did not answer the question of what needs to change for Washington to change its position. US President Joe Biden stated that the Washington administration continues to consider the possibility of transferring these complexes to Ukraine. The first Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Derek Hogan, said last week at a hearing in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives of Congress that the Washington administration has no plans at this stage to supply Kiev with ATACMS.
