US to send long-range missile systems to Ukraine

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden is preparing to step up the kind of weaponry it is offering Ukraine by sending advanced, long-range rocket systems that are now the top request from Ukrainian officials, many officials say.

According to CNN, the administration is leaning toward sending the systems as part of a larger package of military and security assistance to Ukraine, which could be announced as soon as next week.

“Senior Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, have pleaded in recent weeks for the U.S. and its allies to provide the Multiple Launch Rocket System, or MLRS. The US-made weapon systems can fire a barrage of rockets hundreds of kilometers — much farther than any of the systems Ukraine already has — which the Ukrainians argue could be a gamechanger in their war against Russia,” the media says.

It is emphasized that another system requested by Ukraine is a highly mobile artillery rocket system known as HIMARS.

According to sources, according to CNN, one of the main problems was the long range of missile systems. The MLRS and its lighter-weight version, the HIMARS, can launch as far as 300km, or 186 miles, depending on the type of munition. They are fired from a mobile vehicle at land-based targets, which would allow the Ukrainians to more easily strike targets inside Russia.

“Firing is carried out from mobile equipment at ground targets, which will allow Ukrainians to more easily hit targets in the territory of the Russian Federation. Ukraine is already believed to have carried out numerous cross-border strikes inside Russia, which Ukrainian officials neither confirm nor deny. Russian officials have said publicly that any threat to their homeland would constitute a major escalation and have said that western countries are making themselves a legitimate target in the war by continuing to arm the Ukrainians.”

Also, another major concern in the Biden administration was whether the U.S. could afford to send so many high-quality weapons taken from army stockpiles, the sources said.