US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday (12) that he is considering authorizing the delivery of long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine, which Kiev is asking to reinforce its counter-offensive against Russia.
Asked if he was considering sending such weapons, Biden said “they [os ucranianos] already have the equivalent of ATACMS [mísseis táticos]”.
“What we need most is artillery shells, which are in short supply. We are working on that”, he added before boarding the Air Force One plane, on the way to Finland, after participating in the NATO summit in Lithuania.
Biden commented that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was nevertheless “very satisfied” with the support given to his country in the face of Russian aggression.
NATO has not set a specific timetable for Ukraine’s integration into the Atlantic Alliance, but Biden and the other G7 leaders signed a declaration pledging to ensure the country’s long-term security.
The US president told reporters that he does not believe Ukraine’s eventual accession will happen before the end of the war, which began in February 2022.
Zelensky had also said on Wednesday that he intended to ask Biden to send the long-range missiles to Ukraine during their meeting on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Vilnius.
During the summit, which ended on Wednesday, France announced the deployment of long-range SCALP missiles.
The ATACMS have a range of around 190 miles (about 300 kilometers), about 40 miles longer than the French and British Storm Shadow missiles, which are also long-range and were authorized by the UK in May.
The United States has already sent Himars rockets to Ukraine, but their range is about 80 kilometers.
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