US to provide long-range rocket system (HIMARS) to Ukraine

1. The United States will provide Ukraine with the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), a senior Biden administration official said on Tuesday, upgrading Kyiv's battleground capabilities as it battles Russia.

"These systems will be used by the Ukrainians to repel Russian advances on Ukrainian territory, but they will not be used on targets in Russian territory," the official told reporters.

President Joe Biden said the US would provide Ukraine with more advanced rocket systems and munitions so it can "more precisely strike key targets on the battlefield."
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2. A US senior administration official told reporters that Ukraine assured them they will not use the long range systems for targets on Russian territory, and Washington is comfortable they will not.

"The Ukrainians have given us assurances they will not use these systems against targets in Russian territory and so based on those assurances, we're very comfortable that they will not," the official said on Tuesday.
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3. Russia's nuclear forces are holding drills in the Ivanovo province, northeast of Moscow, the Interfax news agency cited the Russian defense ministry as saying on Wednesday.

Some 1,000 servicemen are exercising in intense maneuvers using over 100 vehicles including Yars intercontinental ballistic missile launchers, it cited the ministry as saying.
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4. Joe Biden has said that although the US is continuing to “reinforce NATO’s eastern flank with forces and US capabilities”, Washington does not seek a war between NATO and Russia.

“As much as I disagree with Mr. Putin, and find his actions an outrage, the United States will not try to bring about his ouster in Moscow,” Biden wrote in a guest essay in the New York Times newspaper.

“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,” he said.

Biden added that the US was not “encouraging or enabling Ukraine to strike beyond its borders”, adding “we do not want to prolong the war just to inflict pain on Russia.”