The measure is unprecedented, and undoubtedly betrays the great concern of Kiev’s allies, while the Ukrainian counter-offensive to retake territories from Russian forces has stalled since its launch a month ago. US President Joe Biden approved on Friday, after several months of intense internal debate in Washington, the shipment of approximately one hundred thousand cluster munitions to Ukraine, despite the legislation which almost unconditionally prohibits the production, use or transfer of this type of weapon.
“It’s a tough decision. We delayed it” for a while, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters, adding that it was “the right thing to do”. Prohibited by the 2008 Oslo international convention (which does not count Russia, Ukraine or the United States among its 113 signatories), these weapons, also called cluster bombs, are particularly deadly. They are made up of a container (a shell, for example) which, when it explodes, projects a multitude of explosive charges, called cluster munitions, which then fall over a large area.
Undersecretary of Defense Colin Kahl said the program will include 155mm artillery cluster munitions. Frequently, a portion of the projectiles dropped fail to explode, becoming landmines that can take up to years to detonate. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the vast majority of victims of the latter are civilians. According to the latest study on the subject published by the Pentagon, at least four of the 72 submunitions dropped by each M864 shell do not explode immediately after hitting the ground.
In fact, defragmentation bombs are already used on the battlefield: the Russians have been accused since the first months of the war by researchers and NGOs of having dropped very many bombs of this type, including on areas residential areas inhabited by civilians. kyiv forces are also accused of having occasionally used it on the battlefield.
Since the launch of its counter-offensive a month ago, the Ukrainian army has been confronted with reinforced Russian positions, a lack of air support and can only advance with caution. The stocks of shells sent by the United States and European countries are dwindling, and the Ukrainian Minister of Defense admitted in an interview with the Washington Post a few days ago that they were “not enough emphasizing the need for more “effective” cluster bombs. The Russians “use them against us, so to defend ourselves we have the right to use the same type of ammunition,” he pleaded.
The delivery of cluster munitions is part of a new shipment of US military equipment to Ukraine worth $800 million, including missiles for Patriot air defense systems and rockets for HIMARS, additional Stryker armored vehicles, precision aerial munitions, demolition charges and obstacle clearance systems, as well as various spare parts.
