Ukrainian President Zelensky will thank workers at a Pennsylvania ammunition factory
WASHINGTON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday will visit the Pennsylvania ammunition factory that is producing one of the most critically needed munitions for his country’s fight to fend off Russian ground forces.
He is expected to go to the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant to kick off a busy week in the United States shoring up support for Ukraine in the war, according to two U.S. officials and a third familiar with Zelensky’s schedule who spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that were not yet public. He also will address the U.N. General Assembly annual gathering in New York and travel to Washington for talks on Thursday with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Scranton plant is one of the few facilities in the country to manufacture 155-millimeter artillery shells. They are used in howitzer systems, which are towed large guns with long barrels that can fire at various angles. Howitzers can strike targets up to 15 miles to 20 miles away and are highly valued by ground forces to take out enemy targets from a protected distance.
Ukraine has already received more than 3 million of the 155-millimeter shells from the U.S.
The bombs fell Saturday night in Kharkiv, the second-largest Ukrainian city, damaging 18 buildings north of its center, the city council said.
With the war now well into its third year, Zelensky has been pushing the U.S. for permission to use longer-range missile systems to fire deeper inside Russia.
So far he has not persuaded the Pentagon or White House to loosen those restrictions. The Defense Department has emphasized that Ukraine can already hit Moscow with Ukrainian-produced drones, and there is hesitation about the strategic implications of a U.S.-made missile potentially striking the Russian capital.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Russia would be “at war” with the United States and its NATO allies if they allowed Ukraine to use the long-range weapons.
At one point in the war, Ukraine was firing between 6,000 and 8,000 of the 155-millimeter shells per day. That rate started to deplete U.S. stockpiles and drew concern that the level on hand was not enough to sustain U.S. military needs if another major conventional war broke out, such as in a potential conflict over Taiwan.
In response the U.S. has invested in restarting production lines and is now manufacturing more than 40,000 155-millimeter rounds a month, with plans to reach 100,000 rounds a month. During his visit, Zelensky is expected to meet and thank workers who have increased production of the 155-millimeter rounds over the past year.
Ukraine says it has a new homegrown long-range weapon that will allow it to strike deep into Russia without asking permission from allies.
Two of the Pentagon leaders who have pushed that increased production through — Doug Bush, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology and Bill LaPlante, the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer — are also expected to join Zelensky at the plant, as is Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro.
The 155-millimeter rounds are just one of the scores of ammunition, missile, air defense and advanced weapons systems the U.S. has provided Ukraine — everything from small-arms bullets to F-16 fighter jets. The U.S. has been the largest donor to Ukraine, providing more than $56 billion of the more than $106 billion NATO and partner countries have collected to aid in its defense.
Even though Ukraine is not a member of NATO, commitment to its defense is seen by many of the European nations as a must to keep Putin from further military aggression that could threaten bordering NATO-member countries and result in a much larger conflict.
Copp writes for the Associated Press. The AP’s Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.
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