US to give Kyiv long-range ATACMS missiles

KYIV, Sept 23 (BBC): US President Joe Biden plans to give Ukraine advanced long-range missiles to help Kyiv with its ongoing counter-offensive, US media report.
They quote US officials familiar with the issue as saying Ukraine will get some ATACMS missiles with a range of up to 190 miles (300km).
This would enable Kyiv to hit Russian targets deep behind the front line.
At least two Ukrainian missiles hit the headquarters of Russia's Black Sea fleet in annexed Crimea on Friday.
A Ukrainian military source told the BBC that the attack in the port of Sevastopol used Storm Shadow missiles, which are supplied by Britain and France.
Such missiles have a range of just over 150 miles.
NBC News and the Wall Street Journal quote unnamed US officials as saying Mr Biden told his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky that Kyiv would get "a small number" of ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) missiles. The two leaders met at the White House on Thursday.
The WSJ adds that the weapons will be sent in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post cited several people familiar with the discussions as saying Ukraine would get ATACMS armed with cluster bomblets rather than single warheads.
Neither the US nor Ukraine have officially confirmed the reports.
After the Biden-Zelensky talks Washington announced a new tranche of $325m (£265m) in military aid - including artillery and ammunition - for Ukraine. America's Abrams tanks will be delivered to Kyiv next week.
A Reuters report adds: The use of heavy weapons supplied by the West in the fierce battle raging on the outskirts of Bakhmut, which was captured by Russia in May, is inflicting a significant toll on enemy lines, Ukrainian commanders have told Reuters.
Buoyed after the capture last week of the key village of Klishchiivka, Ukrainian troops have lauded the 155 millimetre howitzers as key equipment being provided by the United States and its NATO allies.
Unit commander Oleksandr said Ukraine's armed forces "very much rely" on heavy artillery, including the Polish-made Krab gun and the US-made M109 self-propelled howitzer.
Earlier, Poland's prime minister told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday not to "insult" Poles, maintaining harsh rhetoric towards Kyiv after the Polish president had sought to defuse a simmering row over grain imports.
Poland decided last week to extend a ban on Ukrainian grain imports, shaking Kyiv's relationship with a neighbour that has been seen as one of its staunchest allies since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year.
Zelenskiy angered his neighbours when he told the United Nations General Assembly in New York that Kyiv was working to preserve land routes for grain exports, but that the "political theatre" around grain imports was only helping Moscow.
"I... want to tell President Zelenskiy never to insult Poles again, as he did recently during his speech at the U.N.," Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told an election rally.