Global Security Newswire

Plans are in place for the United States and Ukraine next year to jointly open a disposal plant for the solid fuel used in Soviet-era SS-24 ICBMs, Interfax reported on Monday (see GSN, July 29, 2010).

The demilitarization facility is to be established at the Pavlohrad Chemical Plant in the region of Dnipropetrovsk.

Under the bilateral deal, "the U.S. side will delver the equipment and pay for it," an informed insider said. "The facility will be launched in the middle of 2012."

The U.S. Defense Department last year said it would boost financial support to $24 million in order to wrap up the disposal effort by 2013.

The first Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty requires Kiev to eradicate its stockpile of 5,000 metric tons of solid fuel for SS-24 long-range ballistic missiles no later than the end of 2013. The ex-Soviet satellite state no longer holds any ICBMs (Interfax, Sept. 12).