President Volodymyr Zelensky will visit the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant, a factory producing critically-need 155 mm shells for Ukraine, during his visit to the United States on Sept. 22.
Zelensky will visit the U.S. in the coming week to present the details of his victory plan to U.S. President Joe Biden and other leaders on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
The visit will start with a tour of the Scranton ammunition plant, located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, officials familiar with Zelensky's schedule told the Associated Press (AP) on Sept. 21.
Zelensky will thank factory workers for producing artillery shells desperately needed on Ukraine's front lines.
The Pennsylvania factory announced in August that it was boosting production of 155 mm artillery shells from 24,000 rounds per month to 36,000.
The plant, which employs about 300 people, highlights the local economic benefits of U.S. support for Ukraine. The factory is also located in President Biden's birthplace, and could prove to be a pivotal talking point amid the heated campaign for the battleground state of Pennsylvania in the upcoming presidential election.
The Scranton facility is one of the few plants in the U.S. that produces 155 mm shells. The U.S. military in May 2024 opened a new factory in Texas that will reportedly be able to produce 30,000 shells each month once it reaches its full capacity.
The U.S. has sent Ukraine more than 3 million 155 mm shells since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, according to government records.
Ukraine's European allies have scrambled to up their production of the 155 mm shells but fell far short of its promise to deliver 1 million artillery shells to Ukraine between March 2023 and 2024. After supplying only about half of the promised rounds, Brussels shifted the deadline to the end of 2024.
Dinara Khalilova
