The United States announced a $250 million military aid package to Ukraine on Friday but refused to change its policy restricting the use of long-range missiles deep inside Russia.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin unveiled the package at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany.
The package includes a wide variety of weapons from Pentagon stockpiles -- air-defense missiles, armored vehicles, rockets and artillery and anti-tank weapons. The funding is part of Congress' $60 billion supplemental funding bill passed in April.
While Zelenskyy expressed his gratitude for the assistance, he requested the ATACMS missiles and permission to use them. The supersonic tactical ballistic missile have a longer range and are GPS-guided, allowing Ukraine to strike targets inside Russia.
"There is no rational reason to limit Ukraine's defense," Zelenskyy said of US refusing to allow its missiles to strike targets deep in Russian territory. "We need long-range capabilities and the full implementation of air defense agreements for Ukraine. These are life-saving measures."
Instead the U.S. provided a selection of weapons designed to help Ukraine fend off Russian attacks, RIM-7, TOW, Stinger missiles and Javelin missiles. The package also includes M113 armored personnel carriers, and Bradley infantry fighting vehicles.
Austin dismissed Zelenskyy's demand for longer-range weapons, dismissing the ATACMS missile systems as a "game-changer" in the war. The announcement comes as Russia intensifies its attacks deep inside Ukraine.
"There's no one capability that will in and of itself be decisive in this campaign," Austin said, adding that Ukraine already has the capability of striking inside Russia with drones (unmanned aerial vehicles) and other weapons.
"There are a lot of targets in Russia -- big country, obviously," Austin said, "and there's a lot of capability that Ukraine has in terms of UAVs and other things to address those targets."
