The White House appears to be revoking President Joe Biden’s statements that the US will not send long-range rocket systems to Ukraine.
“We will not send rocket systems to Ukraine that could attack Russia,” Biden told reporters on South Lawn on Monday morning.
Following his statements, a senior administration official said that there was still no decision on sending multiple rocket launch systems (MLRS) to Ukraine.
“The MLRS is under consideration, but there is nothing on the table with long-range attack capabilities,” the administration official said Monday, according to The Washington Post.
The Biden administration was expected to announce a decision on sending the systems to Ukraine sometime this week, several outlets reported. Before Memorial Day weekend, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said officials are still determining what the next withdrawal package will include.
“We are certainly aware and aware that the Ukrainians are asking, privately and publicly, for what is known as a multi-rocket launch system,” Kirby said Friday.
“I will not go ahead with the decisions … but I can assure you that we are in constant communication with them [Ukraine]. We are still committed to helping them succeed on the battlefield and to succeed specifically in the struggle they are in. “
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for long-range systems.
South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham has been pushing to provide the systems to Ukraine. On Monday, he described Biden’s comments against the surrender as “a betrayal of Ukraine and democracy itself.”
“Apparently, once again the Biden administration is intimidated by Russian rhetoric,” Graham tweeted. “This is another terrible day in the ongoing parody of Biden’s foreign policy.”
Meanwhile, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia Dmitry Medvedev called Biden’s apparent decision not to send the systems “rational.”
Russia has shifted its offensive in recent weeks as it continues to focus on the Donbas region and southern Ukraine. The concentration of forces in this area has brought several changes for Ukraine. Russia is more familiar with the Donbas, as fighting has been going on in the region for the past eight years, Kirby said.
Zelensky has called for long-range systems, some missiles have a range of almost 185 miles. As reported by Newsweek, the MLRS is more mobile than the shells, which the US has provided to Ukraine in the most recent withdrawal packages. The US has also been training Ukrainians in howitzers outside Ukraine.
President Joe Biden speaks to reporters as he returns to the White House from Delaware on the South Lawn in Washington on Monday, May 30, 2022. Andrew Harnik / AP Photo