Russian officials have warned Joe Biden he is adding fuel to the fire by giving Ukraine long-range rockets.
The US President has agreed to give Volodymyr Zelensky advanced rockets that can target Russian targets as part of a £550million weapons package.
Washington is already supplying Ukraine with high mobility artillery rocket systems that can accurately hit targets up to 50 miles away after Ukraine gave "assurances" they will not use the missiles to strike inside Russia, senior administration officials said.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov today said he doesn't believe Ukraine won't use them to shoot them into Russia.
He told reporters today: "We believe that the US is deliberately pouring oil on the fire. The US is obviously holding the line that it will fight Russia to the last Ukrainian."
Biden on Tuesday told reporters that "we're not going to send to Ukraine rocket systems that strike into Russia."
He has said he believes the war will end through diplomacy but he's supplying the weapons to give Ukraine a strong hand at the negotiating table.
In a New York Times op-ed published yesterday, he wrote: "That’s why I’ve decided that we will provide the Ukrainians with more advanced rocket systems and munitions that will enable them to more precisely strike key targets on the battlefield in Ukraine."
The package also includes ammunition, counterfire radars, several air surveillance radars, additional Javelin anti-tank missiles, as well as anti-armour weapons, officials said.
Ukrainian officials have been asking for longer-range missile systems in the hopes of turning the tide of the war.
It comes as a top Russian security official made a chilling promise that the Kremlin will "fulfil threats" of a missile attack.
Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said Washington's decision not to send Ukraine rocket systems capable of striking Russian targets was "reasonable".
Medvedev wrote on his Telegram channel that Russia would have returned fire against Biden's "criminal decisions" at targets "not in Kiev at all".
He said: "Biden said that the US will not supply Ukraine with missile systems capable of attacking Russia. Reasonable!
"Otherwise, when attacking our cities, the Russian Armed Forces would fulfil their threat and strike at the centres of these criminal decisions.
Some of them are not in Kiev at all. What's next, there's no need to explain..."
