Multiple sources have told CNN that the rocket systems are now the top requests from Ukrainian officials. The administration is now considering sending the systems as part of a larger military and security package to Ukraine which could be approved as early as next week.
In recent weeks senior Ukrainian officials including President Volodymyr Zelensky have pleaded for the US and its allies to send the Multiple Launch Rocket System, or MLRS.
This weapon can fire a barrage of rockets hundreds of kilometres. much further than the Ukrainians currently can.
Kyiv believes that weapons such as the MLRS could be a game changer in the war against Moscow.
Ukraine has also asked for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, known as HIMARS, a lighter wheeled system capable of firing many of the same types of ammunition as MLRS.
This weapon can fire a barrage of rockets hundreds of kilometres. much further than the Ukrainians currently can.
Kyiv believes that weapons such as the MLRS could be a game changer in the war against Moscow.
Ukraine has also asked for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, known as HIMARS, a lighter wheeled system capable of firing many of the same types of ammunition as MLRS.
According to Ukrainian officials its forces have struggled in recent weeks battling Russian forces in the Donbas region.
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They are fired from a mobile vehicle at land-based targets, this would allow the Ukrainians to more easily strike targets inside Russia.
It is believed that Ukraine has already carried out a number of cross border strikes into Russia, although this is something Ukrainian officials neither confirm nor deny.
Russian officials have stated publicly that any threat to Russia itself would lead to a major escalation.
They have also stated that western nations are making themselves legitimate targets by continuing to arm Ukraine.
Ukraine’s top military commander, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, said on Thursday that his country is in “great need” of weapons.
“We are in great need of weapons that will make it possible to engage the enemy over a long distance.
“And this cannot be delayed, because the price of delay is measured by the lives of people who have protected the world from [Russian fascism].”
When Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was asked Thursday what his country’s most urgent needs are, he responded: “If you really care for Ukraine, weapons, weapons and weapons again.”
“My least favourite phrase is ‘We are working on it’; I hate it. I want to hear either ‘We got it’ or ‘It’s not going to happen.”
