WASHINGTON: Despite pleas from the war-torn country for advanced weaponry, President Joe Biden said the United States will not provide Ukraine with long-range rocket systems capable of hitting targets inside Russia.

"We are not going to send rocket systems to Ukraine that can strike into Russia," Biden said in response to a media question as he arrived at the White House from Delaware. 

According to reports, the US was preparing to send advanced long-range rocket systems to Ukraine as Russia focused its invasion on the eastern part of the country.  The Defense Department, however, refused to confirm such a plan. "We're still figuring out what the next package will look like," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters on May 27.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other government officials have asked the US for Multiple Launch Rocket Systems and High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems to aid their country's fight against Russia.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the US has delivered heavy artillery, dozens of Howitzers, tactical drones, anti-armour and anti-(air) missiles, helicopters, grenade launchers, machine guns, rifles, radar systems, and 50 million rounds of ammunition to Kiev, among other things.

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