As Russia keeps leveling Ukrainian cities in order to “liberate” them, President Joe Biden has been going back and forth, back and forth for weeks on whether he’s going to properly arm Kyiv in its fight against Moscow. At least he’s finally (apparently) come down on the right side of one key question.

In his New York Times oped this week, Biden said he “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.”

His minions later detailed that this means sending four sophisticated, medium-range rocket systems (plus ammo) that will greatly increase the range of the Ukrainian artillery, as part of a new $700 million package.

The prez also insisted on Ukraine’s promise to use the weapons only to defend the country, not on targets within Russia. That didn’t stop Moscow from making noises about “widening the war,” but ominous threats are a Kremlin specialty.

A bigger issue is that, for all Biden’s vow to help Ukraine “fight on the battlefield and be in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table” (a troubling hint-hint), the Pentagon says it’ll at take least three weeks to get the advanced systems (and troops trained to use them) onto the battlefield.

We get that Biden has to make tricky decisions: The risk of escalation is real, even if smaller than the Russians want everyone to think.

But the fact remains that US delay and dithering cost Ukraine not only brutal-to-retake territory but blood, as Ukrainian citizens and soldiers pay the price with their lives.

Vladimir Putin has yet to blink. America’s president can’t, either.