U.S. President Joe Biden said Tuesday that his administration will send more advanced rocket and ammunition systems to Ukraine in response to urgent requests for weapons that Ukrainians consider critical of the effort to halt the latest advances in Ukraine. Russia.
In a guest essay published in the New York Times, Biden said the United States is committed to providing Ukraine with enough weapons and ammunition to fight on the battlefield and maintain a strong position in negotiations with Moscow.
“That is why I have decided to provide the Ukrainians with more advanced rocket and ammunition systems that will allow them to more accurately attack key targets on the battlefield of Ukraine,” the president wrote.
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Government officials later told reporters that the U.S. will send the M142 High Mobility Artillery (HIMARS) rocket system, considered a medium- and long-range system that can fire missiles about 45 miles (70 kilometers) away. distance. Officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the details of the plans.
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Biden told reporters on Monday that the US will not send missile systems to Ukraine that could reach Russia. But as the most intense fighting is currently taking place in the eastern Donbas region, any weapons system, especially missiles, has the potential to enter Russian territory if fired close enough to the border.
Ukrainians have assured US officials that they will not fire rockets on Russian territory, according to senior government officials. An official noted that advanced rocket systems will give Ukrainian forces greater accuracy in targeting Russian assets within Ukraine.
Biden, in his New York Times essay, added: “We are not encouraging or allowing Ukraine to go beyond its borders. We do not want to prolong the war just to inflict pain on Russia.”
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The HIMARS is mounted on a truck and can carry a six-rocket container. The system can launch a medium-range rocket, which is the current plan, but it is also capable of firing a longer-range missile, the Army Tactical Missile System, which has a range of about 190 miles (300 kilometers). ) and is not part of. of the plan.
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The expectation is that Ukraine will use rockets in the Donbas, where both could intercept Russian artillery and eliminate Russian positions in populations where fighting is intense, such as Sievierodonetsk.
Sievierodonetsk is important for Russian efforts to capture the Donbas before more Western weapons arrive to bolster Ukraine’s defense. The city, located 90 miles (145 kilometers) south of the Russian border, is located in an area that is the last pocket under the control of the Ukrainian government in the Luhansk region of Donbas. Russian officials have been demanding the majority of the city since Tuesday.
The rocket systems will be included in a new $ 700 million aid package to be announced on Wednesday that will include helicopters, Javelin anti-tank weapon systems, tactical vehicles, spare parts and more, according to senior officials. administration.
It will be the 11th package approved so far and will be the first to take advantage of the $ 40 billion in aid recently approved by Congress.
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Rocket systems would be part of the Pentagon’s retreat authority, so they would involve taking weapons from the U.S. inventory and introducing them quickly to Ukraine. Ukrainian troops would also need training on the new systems, which could take at least a week or two.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on the West to send multiple rocket launch systems to Ukraine as soon as possible to help stop Russia’s destruction of Donbas cities. The rockets have a longer range than the US shell artillery systems they have provided in Ukraine, and would allow Ukrainian forces to strike Russian troops from a distance out of range of the artillery systems. Russia.
“We are fighting for Ukraine to receive all the weapons needed to change the nature of the fighting and to start moving faster and more confidently towards the expulsion of the occupiers,” Zelenskyy said in a recent speech.
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Biden’s announcement indicates that the United States continues to maintain the balance it has maintained during the war: to provide significant aid to Ukraine without igniting tensions with Moscow and to trigger a wider conflict that could spill over into other parts of Europe.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned the West not to send more firepower to Ukraine. The Kremlin said Putin held an 80-minute phone call with leaders in France and Germany on Saturday warning against continued Western arms transfers.
In all, the United States has pledged about $ 5 billion in security aid to Ukraine since the start of the Biden administration, including about $ 4.5 billion since Russia invaded on February 24.
Canada has pledged nearly $ 2 billion in aid to Ukraine since the war began, including weapons, artillery and heavy equipment.
—With archives of the Associated Press
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