 The U.S. Congress sees an impulse to provide Ukraine with fighter jets. Michael McCall, influential U.S. congressman and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, announced a shift towards providing Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets and and ATA CMS long-range missile systems during a visit to Kiev. According to the congressman, the Biden administration and the National Security Council were still split over how fast and what weapons to send to Ukraine. At the time seeing increasing momentum towards getting the artillery and the planes in, he told reporters in central Kiev, And in any event, we can start training the pilots right now, so they're ready, he said. McCall met with President Volodymyr Zelensky, who gave him a list of weapons, in particular the F-16 and ATA CMS, designed to hit targets all the way to the territory of Crimea to counter Iranian drones used by Russia. The congressman arrived in Kiev just a day after U.S. President Joe Biden promised to allocate $500 million for new military assistance during an unexpected visit to the Ukrainian capital. As is well known, following the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022, the United States has provided Ukraine with military assistance totaling almost $28 billion, but so far has refrained from sending long-range aircraft and missiles. According to media reports, General Christopher Cavoli, the commander-in-chief of the NATO Joint Armed Forces in Europe, supports providing Ukraine with the most modern Western weapons, including F-16 fighter jets and long-range missiles, to bring its victory in the war with Russia closer.