WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States will not send Ukraine rocket systems that can reach into Russia, President Joe Biden said on Monday.
The comments followed reports that the Biden administration was preparing to send advanced long-range rocket systems to Kyiv for its fight against Russia.
“We’re not going to send to Ukraine rocket systems” that can reach into Russia, Biden told reporters after arriving back at the White House after a weekend in Delaware.
Ukrainian officials have sought a longer-range system called the Multiple Launch Rocket System, or MLRS, that can fire a barrage of rockets hundreds of miles away.
CNN and The Washington Post reported on Friday the Biden administration was leaning towards sending that and another system, the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, known as HIMARS, as part of a larger military aid package to Ukraine.
It was not clear which system Biden was referring to in his remarks.
The Ukrainian government gas urged the West to provide it with more longer-range weapons in order to turn the tide in the war, now in its fourth month.
U.S. officials have said such weapons systems are actively being considered.
Thousands of people have been killed in Ukraine and millions more displaced since the Russian invasion on Feb. 24.
(Reporting by Steve Holland; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien and Alistair Bell)
