(PatrioticPost.com)- The White House has continually said that it will not be sending ground troops into Ukraine to help it fight back invading Russia. However, the United States is OK with sending more and more arms to help the Ukrainian military defend itself.
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden agreed to send Ukraine advanced rocket systems with the capability of striking targets with high precision from a long way away. It’s all a part of the $700 million weapons package that the White House unveiled this week.
The rocket systems are known as high mobility artillery rockets. They have the ability to hit a target accurately from as many as 50 miles away. Senior White House officials have said that Ukraine provided “assurances” to the United States that they would not use the rockets to initiate strikes within Russia.
Apparently, this means they will use the missiles the U.S. is sending them just to defend their own land. This might be an important distinction, as the White House could purport this to be a defense maneuver and not an offensive one.
Biden and his administration has been trying to walk a tightrope between providing Ukraine with military help and not seeming as though they are becoming involved in the war. The concern, of course, is angering Russian President Vladimir Putin, and convincing him to expand his war.
Biden wrote an op-ed for the New York Times earlier this week, in which he said that the war between Ukraine and Russia would only end with diplomacy. That being said, the U.S. has to provide a significant amount of ammunition and weapons to Ukraine so they have leverage when they try to negotiate with Russia.
As Biden wrote:
“That’s why I’ve decided that we will provide the Ukrainians with more advanced rocket systems and munition that will enable them to more precisely strike key targets on the battlefield in Ukraine.”
In addition to the advanced rockets, the U.S. will be sending radars for air surveillance, anti-armor weapons, counter fire radars, ammunition and more Javelin anti-tank missiles, according to officials.
Officials with the Ukrainian military have been requesting missile systems that can strike from longer ranges from their allies in recent weeks. They have said they need something that can fire many rockets that can travel hundreds of miles, so that they can try to turn the tide of the war, which just past the three-month mark.
In clarifying what the U.S. would be willing to send to Ukraine, Biden told reporters Tuesday that “we’re not going to send Ukraine rocket systems that strike into Russia.”
This apparently meant the U.S. was putting limitations on how Ukraine would be allowed to use the weapons, lest America would not provide the support they requested. The president is OK with Ukraine defending itself on its own land, but has continue to be opposed to giving weapons to Ukraine that they could then use to go on the offensive against Russia.