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The administration of US President Joe Biden has said it will send to Ukraine a small number of medium-range high-tech missile systems, critical weapons that Ukrainian leaders have sought to deliver as they encounter in difficulty of hindering Russia’s advance in the Donbas region.
The missile systems are part of a new $ 700 million US military aid package to Ukraine. The package will also include helicopters, Javelin anti-tank systems, tactical vehicles, spare parts for other weapons, said US officials, who added that officially this aid package will be made public on Wednesday.
The U.S. decision to send these missile systems is intended to strike a balance between wanting to help Ukraine fight off Russian artillery attacks while ensuring it does not send weapons to Kiev that could hit deep targets. within the territory of Russia, as such a thing is believed to constitute an escalation of the war.
In an article published in The New York Times, President Biden confirmed that he had decided to “provide the Ukrainians with more advanced missile and ammunition systems that will enable them to carry out more accurate attacks on key targets on the battlefield.” in Ukraine ”.
Earlier in the week, President Biden said the United States would not send “missile systems that could strike inside Russia” to Ukraine. Any weapons system can hit targets in Russia if they are near the border. In the new US aid package, Washington is expected to include half-range missiles, which can generally fly about 70 kilometers.
The Ukrainians have assured the US that they will not drop missiles inside Russian territory, said some senior US administration officials, reports the Associated Press. An official stressed that advanced missile systems will enable Ukrainian forces to carry out more precise attacks on Russian targets inside Ukraine.
Ukraine could use missiles in the eastern Donbas region, either to thwart Russian artillery attacks or to withdraw Moscow forces from positions where there is fierce fighting, such as the town of Severodonjeck.
Severodnjecku is key in Russia’s efforts to take Donbas before the arrival of Western weapons that would strengthen Ukrainian defense. This city is located 140 kilometers south of the Russian border and is the largest city under Ukrainian control in the Luhansk region.
“We are not encouraging or allowing Ukraine to strike beyond its borders,” Biden told the New York Times. “We do not want to prolong the war just to hurt Russia.”
This is the eleventh aid package approved so far in the US and is the first aid from the $ 40 billion package that Congress has allocated for economic and security assistance to Ukraine.
The weapons will be taken from US military inventory, and Ukrainian soldiers must be trained for at least a week or two to use these new missile systems.
US officials said the plan is to send to Ukraine the High Mobility Artillery Weapon System or HIMARS, which can be mounted on a truck and can hold up to six missiles. This system can strike with medium-range missiles, but it is also capable of operating long-range missiles, but the model for long-range attacks is not part of the US plan.
Ever since Russia launched its occupation of Ukraine on February 24, the US and its allies have helped Ukraine with weapons to fight Russian forces.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has recently stepped up calls for the West to send missile systems to his country in order for Kiev forces to halt the Russian offensive in the Donbas.REL
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