Congressman: US close to greenlighting supplies of ATACMS ballistic missiles to Ukraine

Republican Chairman of the US House Intelligence Committee, Mike Turner, has said that House Speaker Mike Johnson plans to put the bill on aid to Ukraine to a vote in April.

"The speaker has made it clear that he supports Ukraine both directly to [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy - publicly, he's made these statements - and to the secretary general of NATO. The speaker has made very clear statements that when we get back [from a recess], it's the next top agenda, after having just passed all the bills that fund the federal government. I believe this is going to have overwhelming support in Congress, and we'll put a bill on the president's desk," he said in an interview on CBS television, TASS reports.

Turner was asked whether the current legislation will need to be tweaked to either include loans that Ukraine would have to pay back or incorporate clauses about border security to gain approval.

"There already is a significant and very strong support among Republicans," he said.

"As this package moves, certainly there are going to be some discussions, you know, in both the Senate and the House. I've had discussions about the border itself. Certainly, there have been discussions about the manner in which the non-military, humanitarian aid is structured," he went on to say.

Turner also said that Washington is close to greenlighting supplies of ATACMS ballistic missiles to Ukraine.

"We need to give them longer-range weapon systems. The White House has been hesitant to do so. Congress has called for that. Zelenskyy has called for that. It's the ATACMS and I think it's long range <…> ATACMS. Those I think the administration is on the verge of being willing to provide," he said.

Earlier this week Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Charles Q. Brown held a meeting with the Washington-based Defence Writers Group, of which TASS is a member, where he commented on the prospect of supplying Kyiv with ATACMS missiles. When asked whether a transfer of ATACMS missiles from the US to Ukraine would carry an unacceptable risk of escalating the conflict, he said the risk is now not as high as it used to be.