Biden closing in on new weapons package for Ukraine
U.S. President Joe Biden and his team are still considering the sending of longer-range rocket systems to Ukraine but do not want them used to launch attacks inside Russian territory, the White House said on Tuesday.
U.S. officials said Biden and his national security aides are in the final stages of preparing a new weapons package for Ukraine with an announcement expected soon, possibly as early as Wednesday.
Ukrainian officials have been asking allies for longer-range systems including the Multiple Launch Rocket System, or MLRS, that can fire a barrage of rockets hundreds of miles away, in the hopes of turning the tide in the three-month-long war.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said this system is under consideration.
"But as the president said, we won't be sending long-range rockets for use beyond the battlefield in Ukraine," she said. Other U.S. officials have said Biden does not want them launched into Russian territory to avoid broadening the Ukraine war.
Biden on Tuesday told reporters that "we're not going to send to Ukraine rocket systems that strike into Russia."