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The US will send Ukraine a cluster munitions package to help in its counteroffensive against Russia, BBC News reported.

The White House said it had postponed the decision for as long as it could because of the risk of civilian harm from such unexploded ordnance.

Ukraine has been asking for the weapons for months amid an ammunition shortage.

Cluster munitions - which are banned by more than 100 countries - are a class of weapon that contain multiple explosive bomblets called submunitions.

US President Joe Biden said in a cable TV interview that it was "a very difficult decision on my part" to send the bombs.

He said he had decided to send the munitions because "the Ukrainians are running out of ammunition".

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told Friday's daily White House briefing: "We recognise the cluster munitions create a risk of civilian harm from unexploded ordnance.

"This is why we've deferred the decision for as long as we could."

He added: "Ukraine would not be using these munitions in some foreign land. This is their country they're defending."

Mr Sullivan said Ukraine was running out of artillery and needed "a bridge of supplies" while the US ramps up domestic production.

"We will not leave Ukraine defenceless at any point in this conflict period," he said.

Mr Sullivan told reporters that the cluster munitions America will send to Ukraine have a dud rate of less than 2.5%, describing that as far below Russia's cluster munition dud rate, which US officials say is between 30-40%.

In a separate news briefing, the Pentagon did not specify how many cluster munitions the US will send to Ukraine, but spokesman Colin Kahl said they had "hundreds of thousands available".