Biden Thanks Congress for Funding To Send More Rocket Launchers to Ukraine

June 1, 2022 (EIRNS)—The Biden Administration today announced a new arms package for Ukraine. “Thanks to the additional funding for Ukraine, passed with overwhelmingly bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress, the United States will be able to keep providing Ukraine with more of the weapons that they are using so effectively to repel Russian attacks,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “This new package will arm them with new capabilities and advanced weaponry, including HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) with battlefield munitions, to defend their territory from Russian advances.”

Yesterday, the White House placed an op-ed in the New York Times under Biden’s name, not only promising more weapons to Ukraine but in effect telling the American people why they should expect to continue to be forced to make sacrifices, supposedly on behalf of the Kyiv regime. “America’s goal is straightforward: We want to see a democratic, independent, sovereign and prosperous Ukraine with the means to deter and defend itself against further aggression,” Biden claimed. He used the op-ed to announce that his administration has decided to send to Ukraine advanced rocket systems and munitions “that will enable them to more precisely strike key targets on the battlefield.”

The op-ed pays lip service to the idea of negotiations to end the conflict, but in the context of using the supply of weapons to shape the talks. “Every negotiation reflects the facts on the ground,” Biden said. “We have moved quickly to send Ukraine a significant amount of weaponry and ammunition so it can fight on the battlefield and be in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table.”

“We will continue cooperating with our allies and partners on Russian sanctions, the toughest ever imposed on a major economy,” Biden continued. “We will continue providing Ukraine with advanced weaponry, including Javelin anti-tank missiles, Stinger anti aircraft missiles, powerful artillery and precision rocket systems, radars, unmanned aerial vehicles, Mi-17 helicopters and ammunition. We will also send billions more in financial assistance, as authorized by Congress. We will work with our allies and partners to address the global food crisis that Russia’s aggression is worsening. And we will help our European allies and others reduce their dependence on Russian fossil fuels, and speed our transition to a clean energy future.”

Biden claimed that as much as he finds Putin’s actions “outrageous,” the United States “will not try to bring about his ouster in Moscow. So long as the United States or our allies are not attacked, we will not be directly engaged in this conflict, either by sending American troops to fight in Ukraine or by attacking Russian forces. We are not encouraging or enabling Ukraine to strike beyond its borders. We do not want to prolong the war just to inflict pain on Russia.”

“Standing by Ukraine in its hour of need is not just the right thing to do,” Biden went on.

“It is in our vital national interests to ensure a peaceful and stable Europe and to make it clear that might does not make right. If Russia does not pay a heavy price for its actions, it will send a message to other would-be aggressors that they too can seize territory and subjugate other countries. It will put the survival of other peaceful democracies at risk. And it could mark the end of the rules-based international order and open the door to aggression elsewhere, with catastrophic consequences the world over.”

An unnamed senior administration official told the New York Times yesterday that HIMARS was promised only after direct assurances by Ukraine’s leaders that they would not use it against targets within Russian territory. One senior administration official acknowledged that even the rockets with a 48-mile limit could be used to attack targets inside Russia if the system was brought to the Ukraine-Russia border. But the official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, said that Ukraine’s government had assured the United States that would not happen, and that the administration was comfortable with the assurances.