Ukraine 'frustrated' with US' reluctance to supply multiple launch rocket systems amid war

Ukrainian officials are reportedly "frustrated" that ir appeal me to United States to arm m with a long-range Multiple Launch Rocket System [MLRS] has been rejected by White House, a congressional source familiar with development told Politico on condition of anonymity.  weapons system is crucial for Ukraine’s military to counter Russia’s heavy and gruelling artillery duels in Luhansk and Donetsk regions in eastern Donbass where Russia’s inving troops have been gaining ground. 

self-propelled and automatic M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System that fires surface-to-surface rockets was first manufactured for US Army in 1983 and has proven extremely successful in US Army’s Operation Desert Storm during Gulf War when Iraqi forces of Sdam Hussain h inved neighbouring Kuwait. 

Credit: Lockheed Martin

While Ukraine’s armed forces, despite using outdated weaponry systems have managed to push Russian artillery back from within firing range in second-largest city, Kharkiv, Russian forces have now bolstered ir defensive on several key fronts, including Black Sea coast aiming ir artillery guns at Ukrainian forces. As Ukraine me a request to Washington to supply long-range rocket systems with precision strike capability,  Biden ministration blocked request, over fears that weapon could be used to launch strikes inside Russia; reby making move ‘escalatory’ and prolonging conflict. 

“re was momentum on it at Ramstein, but that seems to have cooled,” one congressional staffer told Politico, ding that re were discussions last month in Germany about prospects of arming Ukraine with MLRS. “re’s definitely a frustration building” in Kyiv, latter revealed, on condition of anonymity. 

MLRS 'top of Ukrainian requests' from US

MLRS has been at top of Ukrainian requests for months, and Ukraine’s officials on behalf of ir military forces have me case multiple times with ir counterparts in Biden ministration. two countries have remained “in an active discussion” about weapon for a very long time, staffer said. It remains unclear if $3.8 billion military aid package recently underway for approval for Ukraine will constitute all weaponry Kyiv has requested for. “We have to make decisions about what weapons systems provide biggest bang for buck,” an official told paper. He went on to clarify that Biden ministration has decided “it was more effective and efficient to send 90 M777 [howitzers] because you can send more of m.” 

Although it is being speculated that Washington has “discreetly” supplied Soviet-era multiple launch rocket systems to Ukraine. But re’s a general sense of insecurity in US against arming Ukraine with a more vanced High Mobility Artillery Rocket System that will have more destructive powers. United States' Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told Senate Armed Services Committee last week that Putin could escalate war into “a more unpredictable rising trajectory” if conflict also drags on and that “if he perceives Russia is losing in Ukraine.”