President Biden Approves Delivery Of State-of-the-art Rockets To Ukraine, But White House Demands Assurances Kyiv Won't Attack Russia

Illustration of the HIMARS rocket system. (Wikimedia Commons/US Marine Corps/Cpl. Ismael E. Ortega)

JAKARTA - US President Joe Biden has approved delivery of advanced long-range rockets to Ukraine, but White House officials say they have asked for assurances that the rockets will not be used to attack Russia.

The rocket system can strike with precision Russian long-range targets, up to 80 kilometers, as part of a US$700 million weapons aid package.

In his opinion piece in the New York Times, President Biden wrote that Russia's invasion of Ukraine would end through diplomacy. However, the United States must provide significant weapons and ammunition, to give Ukraine the ultimate leverage at the negotiating table.

"That's why I decided that we will provide Ukraine with a more advanced rocket and munitions system that will allow them to more precisely strike key targets on the battlefield in Ukraine," Biden wrote.

A senior official with President Biden's administration said the new supplies, which come on top of billions of dollars worth of equipment such as drones and anti-aircraft missiles, including the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), which Kyiv says are essential, to counter Russian missile attacks.

Addressing concerns that weapons like HIMARS could pull the United States into direct conflict, Jonathan Finer, the White House's deputy national security adviser, said Washington had sought Ukraine's assurances that missiles would not strike inside Russia.

"We have asked for Ukrainian assurances that they will not use this system to attack inside Russia. This is a defensive conflict that Ukraine is engaged in. Russian troops are on their territory," Finer said in an interview with CNN.

There are significant targets that Ukraine cannot achieve with the weapons they currently have, Finer said, and the rocket system would make a huge difference in the conflict in the southeastern part of the country, where Russian forces are currently focused.

Meanwhile, officials said the weapons package this time also includes ammunition, fire-fighting radar, air surveillance radars, additional Javelin anti-tank missiles, as well as anti-armored weapons.

Ukrainian officials have asked allies for a long-range missile system that can fire a barrage of rockets hundreds of miles away, in hopes of turning the tide in the war, which is entering its fourth month.

Earlier, President Biden on Tuesday said his side would not deliver rocket systems to Ukraine capable of hitting Russia.