NEW YORK, March 13. /TASS/. The US Department of Defense is ready to provide Ukraine with longer-range ATACMS, which stands for the Army Tactical Missile System, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Kiev has been "pushing the Pentagon to provide long-range ATACMS missiles, which have a range of more than 180 miles and could add to Ukraine’s ability to strike Russian forces in Crimea," the newspaper writes, citing US officials. "Pentagon officials had previously insisted the US military needed to retain all of its longer-range ATACMS to meet its own military requirements," the paper notes. However, "the Pentagon is now open to providing the longer-range ATACMS because of progress in acquiring a follow-on system dubbed the Precision Strike Missile." Still, the officials declined to say whether US President Joe Biden would approve the move.

Politico wrote earlier that Washington might send ATACMS missiles to Ukraine secretly the way it had been done last summer with Anti-Personnel/Anti-Materiel (APAM) missiles, which are an older version of the long-range ATACMS.

On Tuesday, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan announced another $300 million package of military aid for Ukraine, which would contain artillery rounds and rockets. However, Sullivan added that he had no announcements on ATACMS.

The Washington Post, in turn, reported, citing sources, that the new aid package announced by the White House would include medium-range cluster rounds from the ATACMS. However, "US officials declined to say whether they also are sending long-range ATACMs munitions.".