US President Joe Biden has agreed to provide Ukraine with the advanced rocket systems that can strike with precision at long-range targets.
The United States is providing Ukraine with high mobility artillery rocket systems that can accurately hit targets as far away as 80km after Ukraine gave “assurances” they will not use the missiles to strike inside Russia, senior administration officials said.
Biden said that Russia’s military operations in Ukraine will end through diplomacy but the United States must provide significant weapons and ammunition to give Ukraine the highest leverage at the negotiating table, New York Times reported.
“That’s why I’ve decided that we will provide the Ukrainians with more advanced rocket systems and munitions that will enable them to more precisely strike key targets on the battlefield in Ukraine,” Biden added.
The package also includes ammunition, counterfire radars, a number of air surveillance radars, additional Javelin anti-tank missiles, as well as anti-armor weapons, officials said.
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Ukrainian officials have been asking allies for longer-range missile systems that can fire a barrage of rockets hundreds of miles away, in the hopes of turning the tide in the three-month-long war.
The news comes as Joe Biden announced on Monday that his country would not provide Ukraine with missile systems capable of targeting Russian soil.
Russia’s National Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev has said Biden had made a wise decision.
According to a report, President Biden announced in an op-ed Tuesday that his administration will send advanced missile systems to Ukraine — reversing course from a day earlier when he said the US would not deliver the rockets to the war-torn country.
“We have moved quickly to send Ukraine a significant amount of weaponry and ammunition so it can fight on the battlefield and be in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table,” Biden wrote in a New York Times op-ed.
“That’s why I’ve decided that we will provide the Ukrainians with more advanced rocket systems and munitions that will enable them to more precisely strike key targets on the battlefield in Ukraine.”
Biden’s change of heart came after several officials criticized the president’s refusal to send Ukraine missiles as the country continues to fight off Russia’s brutal invasion that began on Feb. 24.
A former US ambassador to Russia under President Obama slammed Biden for denying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenky’s request for Multiple Launch Rocket Systems as well as High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems.
Ex-ambassador Michael McFaul, who is also an MSNBC analyst, called Biden’s approach “a losing strategy” when asked about a tweet he posted that said, “Not arming Ukraine prolongs the war” on MSNBC.
US officials had previously expressed concern about whether Russia would see the US’ weapons delivery as a step too far in the West’s involvement.
In his op-ed, Biden said that his administration will send anti-tank missiles, antiaircraft missiles and precision rocket systems among other weapons.
“We will continue providing Ukraine with advanced weaponry, including Javelin anti-tank missiles, Stinger antiaircraft missiles, powerful artillery and precision rocket systems, radars, unmanned aerial vehicles, Mi-17 helicopters and ammunition,” he wrote.
The president added that his administration is not encouraging Ukraine to use the weapons to target locations in Russia.
“We are not encouraging or enabling Ukraine to strike beyond its borders,” Biden wrote. “We do not want to prolong the war just to inflict pain on Russia.”
He said, in addition to weapons, the US will provide billions more in financial assistance to the eastern European country, as authorized by Congress.
The president also wrote that the US will not directly engage in the conflict — either by sending American troops to fight in Ukraine or by attacking Russian forces.
“We do not seek a war between NATO and Russia,” Biden said in the op-ed. “As much as I disagree with Mr. Putin, and find his actions an outrage, the United States will not try to bring about his ouster in Moscow.”
