US President Joe Biden is likely to unveil a $700 million weapon package on Wednesday in which he has agreed to provide Ukraine with advanced rocket systems that can strike with precision at long-range Russian targets.
A senior administration official said that the United States is providing Ukraine with high mobility artillery rocket systems that can accurately hit targets as far away as 80 km (50 miles) after Ukraine gave “assurances” they will not use the missiles to strike inside Russia.
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On Tuesday, in a New York Times op-ed, President Biden said Russia’s invasion of 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.
“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 wrote.
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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.
Ukrainian officials have been asking allies for longer-range missile systems that can fire a barrage of rockets hundreds of miles away.
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Thousands of people have been killed in Ukraine and millions more displaced since the Russian invasion on February 24, which Moscow calls a “special military operation” to “denazify” its neighbour.