The USA will not announce the delivery of ATACMS missiles to Ukraine during Zelensky’s visit

The administration of US President Joe Biden does not plan to announce the delivery of ATACMS missiles to Ukraine during Vladimir Zelensky’s visit to Washington, which will take place on September 21. Axios writes about it with a reference to the source.

Earlier, the American mass media, citing sources, wrote that the Biden administration is close to a decision on the supply of ATACMS. According to the Axios source, Kyiv hoped that Biden would announce this next week.

During his visit to Washington, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will address the US Congress. This was confirmed by White House adviser Jake Sullivan at a press briefing. The speech will take place after Zelensky’s meeting with Biden.

As “Europeyskaya Pravda” writes on Saturday morning, the USA and Germany are discussing the transfer of ATACMS and German Taurus long-range missiles to Ukraine, but “a number of sensitive issues remain” in this matter. This was discussed on Friday at a press conference after talks between US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock. According to Burbok, the argument that such missiles will be used for strikes on Russian territory is not considered when discussing their possible deliveries to Ukraine.

• Depending on the modification, the range of ATACMS missiles can exceed 300 kilometers. This will allow Ukraine to strike Russian troops located far behind the front line, in particular in the annexed Crimea. Previously, Washington refused to transfer ATACMS missiles to Ukraine partly out of fear that this would lead to an even greater escalation of the conflict, partly due to the limited supply of such complexes.
• Earlier in 2023, Great Britain and France supplied Ukraine with Storm Shadow missiles (aka SCALP), the official range of which is 250 kilometers. Ukraine has already used them for strikes on territories occupied by Russia.