US House Committee Calls on Biden to Provide ATACMS to Ukraine

The U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee has supported a bipartisan resolution H.Res. 488 calling on the Biden administration to immediately provide Ukraine with ATACMS missiles.

According to Yevropeiska Pravda, the committee meeting was held on Wednesday.

The chairman of the committee, Republican Congressman Michael McCaul, said in his speech that ATACMS missiles are critical to the success of Ukraine's counteroffensive. "ATACMS have a range of up to 190 miles (over 300 km - Ed.), allowing Ukrainian forces to strike at Russian-held territory," McCaul said.

ATACMS could also be used to strike Iranian drones in Crimea, he added.

McCall emphasized that the Biden administration's fears of an escalation in connection with the use of ATACMS are unjustified. "Ukraine has promised not to use them to strike Russian territory," the congressman said, recalling that Britain has already provided Ukraine with Storm Shadow missiles of approximately the same range.

Bipartisan approval in the committee allows the resolution to be put to a vote in the House of Representatives. The resolution must also be approved by the Senate.

The Army's ATACMS tactical missile systems are surface-to-surface missiles with a range of about 300 kilometers, about four times longer than the missiles used by the HIMARS mobile systems that the United States began sending to Ukraine last year.

Author - Olena Madiak, 21/06/2023