The Joe Biden administration has decided to supply cluster munitions to Ukraine, the Associated Press agency said, citing sources familiar with the decision. The US is expected to announce this Friday that it will send thousands of them to the war effort against Russia as part of a new military aid package worth up to $800 million. The Pentagon did not want to confirm or deny the information this Thursday. Cluster munitions are controversial, considered particularly cruel and banned in more than 100 signatories to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, including Russia, Ukraine and the United States.
These bombs, also known as cluster bombs, are air-dropped or ground-launched and randomly disperse multiple submunitions or “small bombs” over an area the size of a soccer field. They are designed to wreak havoc on multiple targets at once. Russia is already using it in the war with Ukraine.
The problem is that this results in indiscriminate attacks and endangers potential civilian casualties, since some of the bombs often remain unexploded immediately after scattering, posing a threat to the population that can linger for decades.
However, the sources cited by the AP indicate that the munitions the United States will supply to Ukraine will have a low “failure rate,” meaning there will be far fewer unexploded munitions that could cause accidental civilian deaths .
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, some cluster bombs have a high proportion of bomblets that do not explode, up to 40% in some cases. US officials quoted by the AP said Thursday that the proportion of unexploded submunitions in the bombs that will go to Ukraine is less than 3% and therefore they will pose less of a threat to civilians.
Because of their shape and bright colors, which can resemble a soda can or a ball, these bomblets are particularly attractive to children, who have been shown to take them on many occasions, as has been shown in other wars. According to the Cluster Munition Monitor, around 40% of cluster bomb victims worldwide are children. The effects of ammunition on children’s bodies can be devastating. Surgeons say that at close range, a small bomb can rip off a child’s limbs, blind them, or break bones. From a greater distance, the fragments can become lodged in the body, usually in the muscles.
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Brigadier General Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, told a Defense Department news briefing Thursday that if the United States decided to supply the cluster bombs to Ukraine, it would “carefully select munitions with the lowest detonation rates” and that it is doing so would have “current test data” in this regard.
Not wanting to leave the field of hypotheses entirely, Ryder indicated that he had nothing to report on the subject of cluster munitions. At the same time, however, he stated that the Department of Defense has “several variants” of the ammunition and is considering supplying them: “The ones we are considering would not include older variants with higher (non-detonation) rates than 2, 35%,” he explained.
The Pentagon spokesman declined to clarify whether Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has contacted his NATO colleagues to address some of their concerns about the use of cluster munitions. Ryder has indicated he is aware of reports of some munitions having higher non-detonation rates and has concerns this raises. The general added that Russia uses cluster munitions, which have a very high failure rate.
The Ukrainian authorities have requested the weapons to support their push through Russian troop lines and progress in the ongoing counter-offensive. According to senior US officials, Russian forces are already using cluster munitions on the battlefield and in populated civilian areas.
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