Russia fired back in anger Wednesday after the Biden administration announced that it was sending advanced medium-range rocket systems to Ukraine.
Ukraine will be receiving the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, which can launch satellite-guided rockets with about the same power as a 500-pound bomb, according to The New York Times.
The system has a range of 48 miles, which is beyond anything Ukraine is using now in its three-month-old war to push back Russian invaders.
The rocket systems are part of a new $700 million array of weapons in the latest package of U.S. military aid to Ukraine that will include helicopters, Javelin anti-tank weapon systems and tactical vehicles, according to the U.K.’s Guardian.
The #UnitedStates has approved a new military aid package to #Ukraine that includes the much debated #HIMARS Launchers & thousands of M31A1 MLRS rockets. These precision guided deep strike weapons have been #1 on the #UAF wish list for months. The M31A1 has a range of over 70km. https://t.co/K23g1RE8Bz
— OSINT Aggregator (@AggregateOsint) June 1, 2022
The aid comes as Russia is closing in on the capture of Sievierodonetsk, the last major city in the Luhansk region of Donbas still under Ukraine’s control.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “We believe that the United States is purposefully and diligently adding fuel to the fire” by sending advanced missiles to Ukraine, Fox News reported.
Asked whether the U.S. move increases the chances of a third nation entering the war, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, “Such risks certainly exist,” according to the Russian news agency TASS.
Do you approve of the Biden administration’s decision to send these weapons to Ukraine?
“What the Kiev regime is demanding so categorically, as if everyone owes them, from its Western patrons, first of all, oversteps all limits of decency and diplomatic communication, and second, it is a direct provocation aimed at involving the West in military action,” Lavrov said.
The Biden administration, which previously had rejected sending Ukraine weapons systems that could easily reach into Russia, said Ukraine has assured the U.S. that the new system will not be used to strike across the Russian border.
Peskov said Russia places no faith in such an assurance and views the new development “extremely negatively.”
Asked what might happen if Ukraine does strike a Russian target with U.S. weapons, he said, “Let’s not talk about worst-case scenarios.”
HIMARS launcher provides 24Hr, all-weather, lethal, close & long-range precision rocket & missile fire support for joint forces, early-entry expeditionary forces, contingency forces & field artillery brigades supporting Brigade Combat Teams. HIMARS is rapidly deployable by #C130. pic.twitter.com/CabYMHAVYI
— Parthiban Shanmugam (@hollywoodcurry) June 1, 2022
Russian officials have hinted in the past that the war in Ukraine could spiral into a nuclear conflict.
The Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, when asked about a confrontation between Russia and the U.S., as saying, “Any arms shipments that continue, that are on the rise, increase the risks of such a development,” according to Reuters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been pleading for multiple launch long-range rocket systems.
“We are fighting for Ukraine to be provided with all the weapons needed to change the nature of the fighting and start moving faster and more confidently toward the expulsion of the occupiers,” Zelenskyy said in a recent address, according to The Associated Press.
