Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant on Sunday to thank workers for producing munitions critical to his country's defense, the Associated Press reported.
AP confirmed details of Zelenskyy's visit with U.S. officials who who spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that were not yet public.
WVIA separately confirmed Zelenskyy's visit with a spokesperson from the joint munitions command, who said there would be no press availability.
The munitions factory churns out 155 millimeter howitzer rounds — some of the most vital pieces of equipment for Ukraine’s defense against Russia, as a recent NPR report described it.
Located on the site of a former Lackawanna Railroad locomotive shop, the plant has had many names over the past 70 years, but since the 1990s has focused on creating 155-millimeter artillery shells, as a 2023 WVIA News report pointed out.
The plant makes weapons for Ukraine and Taiwan, but cannot give specific numbers on how many are going to each country for security reasons, AP added.
Ukraine was firing between 6,000 and 8,000 of the shells per day at one point in the war, AP reported, leading to depletion of U.S. stockpiles.
The U.S. has invested in restarting production lines and is now manufacturing more than 40,000 155 mm rounds a month, with plans to hit 100,000 rounds a month, AP reported.
Zelenskyy is expected meet and thank workers who have increased production of the rounds in Scranton, the AP added.
His U.S. visit next week also will include an address to the U.N. General Assembly in New York, and talks in Washington with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, according to the AP.
