U.S. President Joe Biden had told his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky that Washington would provide Ukraine with a small number of long-range ATACMS missiles, NBC News reported on Sept. 22, citing three U.S. officials and a Congressional official familiar with the matter.
According to NBC News, the officials did not reveal the date of the delivery or when a public announcement would be made.
Zelensky met Biden in the White House as part of his official visit to Washington, D.C. on Sept. 21. During the stay of Ukraine's president in the U.S. capital, State Secretary Antony Blinken announced a new military aid package for Ukraine worth $325 million.
The latest tranche included additional cluster munitions and air defenses, among other equipment, but excluded the much-desired ATACMS missiles.
Until now, the White House was long reluctant to provide the missiles with a range of roughly 300 kilometers to bolster Ukraine's army, despite requests from Kyiv and U.S. lawmakers.
Ukraine has already managed to secure Storm Shadow and SCALP longe-range missiles from the U.K. and France and hopes to acquire ATACMS and Germany's Taurus missiles as well.
Martin Fornusek
