Biden reverses and announces he will send advanced rocket systems to Ukraine

Biden earlier said the US is not going to send Ukraine rocket systems that strike into Russia

President Joe Biden on Tuesday reversed his earlier decision and said that the US will provide Ukraine with longer-range missile systems.

“The invasion Vladimir Putin thought would last days is now in its fourth month,” Mr Biden wrote in an opinion piece in The New York Times.

“The Ukrainian people surprised Russia and inspired the world with their sacrifice, grit and battlefield success. The free world and many other nations, led by the United States, rallied to Ukraine’s side with unprecedented military, humanitarian and financial support.”

The opinion piece outlined, in part, the goals of the Biden administration in Ukraine.

“As President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has said, ultimately this war ‘will only definitively end through diplomacy.’ Every negotiation reflects the facts on the ground. We have moved quickly to send Ukraine a significant amount of weaponry and ammunition so it can fight on the battlefield and be in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table,” he wrote.

“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.”

The president’s announcement comes a day after he had said that the US will not be yielding to Ukraine’s push for longer range missile systems.

“We’re not going to send to Ukraine rocket systems that strike into Russia,” Mr Biden told reporters on Monday after arriving back at the White House after a weekend in Delaware.

The White House National Security Council said on Tuesday that the “more advanced rocket systems” were longer-range Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS) capable of reaching Russia but not intended to fire rockets into RUssia or used outside of Ukraine, reported NBC.