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SS-24 intercontinental ballistic missiles Ukraine and the U.S. will soon continue the dialogue on a new format of cooperation in a program to dispose of solid fuel from SS-24 intercontinental ballistic missiles at Pavlohrad Chemical Plant (Dnipropetrovsk region).

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Daniel A. Russell will arrive in Kyiv in August or September to discuss raising U.S. financial assistance for the program, a high-ranking military official told Interfax-Ukraine.

According to him, a relevant agreement was reached during the visit of U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton to Ukraine on July 2-3.

"The U.S. is looking for the ways to participate in the program and share financial costs with Ukraine to complete the program in 2013," the source said.

The funds needed to complete the program in 2013 are estimated at about $95 million.

"During the talks the U.S. State Secretary confirmed the United States' readiness to raise the financing of the program. According to the agreement, the new conditions for partnership will be considered during Deputy Assistant Secretary Russell's visit to Kyiv in August September," the agency's interlocutor said.

Ukraine is obliged to dispose of solid rocket fuel from RS-22 ballistic missiles under the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START-1) and state programs on the elimination of SS-22 ballistic missiles and solid fuel from SS-22 ballistic missiles. It was planned to dispose all solid propellant in Ukraine, about 5,000 tonnes, by late 2011.

The United State appropriated about $24 million for building an SS-24 solid fuel disposal installation in Ukraine. Pilot trials of the installation began in Pavlohrad in 2002. In 2003, the United States withdrew from the solid propellant disposal project at the Pavlohrad Chemical Plant.

The financing from the Ukrainian national budget was carried out irregularly, while budget financing of the state program in 2010 was not foreseen at all.

At present the U.S. Defense Department is partially compensating for Ukraine's expenses on recycling under a so-called "black box" mechanism.