The United States will not supply Ukraine with long-range rocket systems that can reach into Russia, President Joe Biden says.
News reports last week said the Biden administration was leaning toward sending such systems, which Ukrainian government officials have sought for the fight against Russia.
"We're not going to send to Ukraine rocket systems that can strike into Russia," Biden told reporters on May 30 as he returned to Washington from his home in Delaware.
Two systems -- the Multiple Launch Rocket System, or MLRS, and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, known as HIMARS -- were under consideration, according to CNN and The Washington Post on May 28.
Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said Washington's decision not to send the rocket systems was “rational.”
The MLRS can fire a barrage of rockets hundreds of kilometers away. The Ukrainian government has urged the West to provide it with more longer-range weapons in order to turn the tide of the war.