NEW YORK, May 31. /TASS/. The Biden administration is looking at providing Ukraine with precision-guided rocket systems capable of striking targets from a 60-km distance, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
The rocket systems are M31 GMLRS (Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System) weapons capable of hitting targets at a range of 500 km depending on munitions, the paper said, citing its sources.
However, the GMLRS that the United States intends to hand over to Ukraine will be outfitted with rockets having a striking range of 40 miles (roughly 64 km). The GMLRS equipped with these rockets have a strike range twice as long as the range of M777 howitzers that the US had supplied to Ukraine, the paper said.
Washington thus intends to bolster the Ukrainian military’s combat efficiency while denying Kiev the possibility to extend combat operations to Russian territory, the paper’s sources said.
The paper said it was unaware of the number of rocket systems that the Biden administration would send to Kiev, noting that a decision would be announced already this week.
US President Joe Biden told reporters on Monday that Washington "is not going to send Ukraine rocket systems that can strike into Russia."
Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev called the US administration’s decision reasonable. The leadership in Washington did not specify the type of rocket systems. The White House and the Pentagon have not yet responded to a TASS question about the type of rockets and their range that the US was planning to send to Ukraine.
Prior to that, The New York Times reported that the White House had allegedly made a decision to arm Ukraine with M31 GMLRS weapons with a strike range of over 65 km that considerably exceeded the firepower of artillery systems in service with the Ukrainian army.
The Washington Post earlier reported, citing its sources, that some US administration officials were concerned that the delivery of maximal long-range rockets to Ukraine could dramatically escalate the conflict since the Ukrainian military would obtain the possibility of launching rockets into Russian territory.