WP: US May Send Longer-Range Cluster Munitions to Ukraine

The Biden administration is considering several key new options for enhancing Western military support to Ukraine as this war will probably grind into next year.

According to The Washington Post, there is growing backing in Washington for providing rocket-launched cluster munitions, for example, which could strike deeper than the artillery-fired versions the United States began supplying last month.

In addition, the United States is also working hard to plan a Ukrainian "force of the future" that could deter continued Russian aggression.

It's noted that the F-16s that will begin arriving in a few months will be part of that, but US officials are working with allies on many other weapons systems and training.

Media sources reveal that the Pentagon continues to resist, largely because officials fear the United States does not have enough ATACMS to supply Ukraine without undercutting its own readiness for any future conflict with China.

Previously, President Zelenskyy expressed confidence that Ukraine would achieve a positive outcome in negotiations regarding the supply of long-range missiles, as had been the case with other types of weapons.

The army's ATACMS tactical missile systems are surface-to-surface missiles with a range of about 300 kilometres, roughly four times the range of the missiles used by the mobile HIMARS systems that the US began sending to Ukraine last year.

During the NATO summit in Vilnius, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy reported that he had raised the issue of providing Ukraine with long-range ATACMS missiles during his talks with US President Joe Biden, but as of now, no agreements have been reached.