US senator:

Weapons could be on their way next week

Launch of a missile of the so-called Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) in South Korea

(Bild: AFP)

Following the approval of a new aid package for Ukraine worth 61 billion US dollars (around 57 billion euros) in the House of Representatives, hopes are growing in Kiev that new weapons and ammunition will soon be delivered. The Chairman of the Intelligence Committee in the US Senate indicated on Sunday that this could be the case as early as the end of next week.

He hopes that as soon as US President Joe Biden has signed the bill, arms deliveries will be on their way by the end of the week, Democrat Mark Warner told US broadcaster CBS. On Saturday, the US House of Representatives approved the aid package, which contains urgently needed arms deliveries for defense against Russia, with a bipartisan majority. The necessary approval from the Senate is considered certain - it is expected in the middle of the week. Biden must then sign the bill into law.

Will missiles with a longer range be delivered?
Kiev could also receive missiles with an even greater range. This is because the text of the resolution also urges the delivery of long-range ATACMS missile systems. The bill states that Biden should provide Ukraine with these missile systems "as soon as practicable".

So far, the USA has supplied ATACMS with a shorter range of 165 kilometers. However, Ukraine would like some with a range of 300 kilometers in order to be able to hit Russian targets far behind the front line.

Selensky asks for faster implementation of commitments
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked his country's partners and supporters to keep the time between promises of military aid and actual delivery as short as possible (see post above). "The time between the political decisions and the actual losses of the enemy on the front, between the adoption of the package and the strength of our guys should be as short as possible," said Zelensky in his evening video address on Sunday, referring in particular to the latest decision by the US Senate.