US Congress proposed to approve financing for the supply of ATACMS missiles to Ukraine

For the first time, the draft defence budget for fiscal year 2024, prepared by the US House of Representatives, provides funding for the supply of long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine.

Source: European Pravda with reference to Defense News.

According to the defence authorization bill, US$300 million will go to the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which allows the Pentagon to issue new contacts for the production of weapons that will be sent to Ukraine.

The report accompanying the bill states that the Biden administration should use "at least $80 million" in USAI funding for the Army's ATACMS long-range tactical missile systems.

Lawmakers also ask US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin to inform the House Armed Services Committee "on outstanding or denied requests for support" from Ukraine by the end of 2023.

Among other issues related to Ukraine, there is talk of strengthening mechanisms for monitoring military assistance spending, as well as extending the Lend-Lease for one year.

The total US defence budget, as predicted by the White House, would amount to US$886 billion, which would be the highest figure since World War II.

The Army's ATACMS tactical missile systems are surface-to-surface missiles that can fly about 300 kilometres, roughly four times the range of the missiles used by the mobile HIMARS systems that the US began sending to Ukraine last year.

Previously, the media reported that the Biden administration explains the reluctance to hand over longer-range ATACMS missiles to the Ukrainian side by stating that in this case there may be too few of them left in the reserves of the American army.

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