After months of requests from Ukrainian officials, the Biden administration is working toward providing Ukraine with powerful new long-range ballistic missiles, according to two US officials, Report informs, citing NBC News.
Late last year, the US began to supply Ukraine with Army Tactical Missile Systems, known as ATACMS, but so far it has provided only the older medium-range ATACMS. Now, the US is leaning toward sending the longer-range version of the missile, the officials said, which would allow Ukraine to strike farther inside the Russian-held Crimean Peninsula.
But US funding for arms shipments to Ukraine remains uncertain because of opposition from former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies in Congress.
Last week, the Senate passed a $95 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. But it’s not clear whether or when the GOP-controlled House will vote on the measure or whether it would survive the vote.
Defense officials told NBC News that the US has a limited inventory of ATACMS and that it is not likely to send them to Ukraine without money to replenish US stockpiles.
If Congress approves more funding for Ukraine, the US could include the long-range ATACMS in one of the first packages of military aid paid for with that money, according to the two US officials. The US also has ammunition and artillery ready to send to Ukraine immediately if the funding is approved, the officials added.
The Biden administration has resisted sending the long-range missiles over the past two years because officials worried Ukraine would use them to strike inside Crimea or Russia and cause Russian President Vladimir Putin to escalate the conflict. White House and Pentagon officials have expressed similar concerns about other weapons systems but have now decided to provide them to Ukraine.