US media reported on Thursday about the planned deliveries, citing government sources. It was a difficult decision, Biden decided to take this step, Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan said at the White House on Friday. Ukraine would use the cluster munitions in its own country for defense, Sullivan said. Russia is also using cluster munitions in Ukraine.
Sullivan defended the decision: “We recognize that cluster munitions pose a risk of harm to civilians from unexploded ordnance. That’s why we postponed the decision as long as we could.” Biden agreed to step with allies. “We will never leave Ukraine defenseless in this phase of the conflict. period,” says Sullivan.
Ukraine has long demanded the delivery of cluster munitions. Like Russia, your country also wants to use this type of weaponry, that is, to create equality of arms, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Olexandr Kubrakov said at the Munich Security Conference in mid-February when he called for cluster munitions. “It’s our territory,” he said. Ammunition could help resist attackers.
Moscow warns of further escalation
Meanwhile, Russia warned of increased violence in the war if the United States supplied Ukraine with cluster munitions. “This is a new step towards an escalation of the conflict,” said Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebensia. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused the United States of being a diversionary tactic when talking about supposedly “less dangerous” cluster munitions for Ukraine. According to the US Department of Defense, cluster munitions promised by the US have a failure rate of around 2.4%.
NATO chief expresses understanding
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has signaled his understanding to deliver cluster munitions to Ukraine. On Friday in Brussels, he pointed out that Russia was also using cluster munitions. However, the country does not use them for self-defense, but to invade Ukraine. “We are facing a brutal war,” Stoltenberg said.
debate
War in Ukraine: how to prevent further escalation?
At the same time, NATO’s Secretary General made it clear that NATO as an organization does not have a common position on the issue. According to him, this is because some of the NATO countries have signed a treaty banning cluster munitions, while others have not. “It is up to individual allies to make decisions about the supply of weapons and military supplies to Ukraine,” he said. Decisions must be taken by governments and not by NATO as an alliance.
Used by both sides
According to Human Rights Watch, cluster munitions are also used by the Ukrainian side. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the country inherited a large stockpile of cluster munitions – around two million tons. In April 2022, The New York Times reported on the Ukrainian use of cluster munitions in the town of Hussarivka in the Kharkiv region. Soviet-designed Uragan cluster-munition rockets were used.
Portal/Clodagh Kilcoyne A Ukrainian soldier holds a defused cluster bomb near Kharkiv
Cluster munitions are rockets and bombs that explode in the air over the target, scattering or releasing several small explosive artifacts – submunitions. This makes them an effective but untargeted weapon. Cluster munitions are often used to inhibit enemy troop movements, disable airstrips, and destroy convoys of vehicles.
Effective weapon, but high risk of failure
The cluster munitions promised by the US could be “used extensively against troop concentrations”, Austrian military expert Colonel Markus Reisner told the n-tv news channel. This puts Ukraine in a position to prevent Russian reserves from being brought in or to attack them in a targeted manner. “This leads to the isolation of possible planned breakthrough sites,” says Reisner. Furthermore, it is possible that the Ukrainians will use cluster munitions to attack Russian positions at advance points.
“It cannot be denied that the area effect of such ammunition would partially compensate for the numerical inferiority of the Ukrainian artillery,” German weapons expert Frank Sauer told SPIEGEL magazine. Washington’s announcement should be understood as a reaction to the fact that the Ukrainian counter-offensive has been slower than expected, explained independent military expert Franz-Stefan Gady.
Cluster bombs have been criticized because they often fall unguided and land far outside the intended area. The main point of criticism, however, is that a significant percentage of explosive devices often do not detonate, but remain scattered as duds, endangering the population. Destroying bombs still active after a conflict is also dangerous and time-consuming.
Not with the Oslo Accords
The UN Human Rights Office in Geneva called for an immediate halt to the use of cluster munitions and called on Russia and Ukraine to accede to the Oslo Convention, which prohibits the use, manufacture and transfer of certain types of cluster munitions. More than 120 states have signed this convention, Russia, Ukraine and USA are not among them.
In the treaty, States undertake “never, under any circumstances, to use, develop, manufacture, acquire, store, retain or transfer to any person, directly or indirectly, cluster munitions”. He says, among other things, that they are determined to “end the suffering and death” caused by cluster munitions. There is concern that “cluster munitions remnants could kill or maim civilians, including women and children”.
Defense Ministers of Austria, Germany and Switzerland Klaudia Tanner (ÖVP), Boris Pistorius and Viola Amherd said supplying cluster munitions was out of the question for their countries. At a joint press conference in Bern on Friday, Amherd said Russia had been using cluster munitions in Ukraine for some time. “Of course, this is another climb.” Pistorius “did not want to comment” on the US decision itself.
Human rights organization against rendition
Human rights organization Human Rights Watch also called on Ukraine and Russia to stop using cluster munitions. At the same time, she called on the United States to refuse Ukraine’s request to supply this ammunition. Civilians were killed in Russian and Ukrainian attacks with cluster munitions.
“Cluster munitions used by Russia and Ukraine are killing civilians and will continue to do so for years to come,” said Mary Wareham, weapons director at Human Rights Watch. It also refers to failures, which often only detonate later. Both sides must stop using it immediately and not try to get more of these weapons that kill indiscriminately.
Already used in World War II
Cluster munitions were developed and used as early as World War II. However, its use only increased significantly during the Vietnam War. In the decades that followed, the technology continued to be refined, leading to greater effectiveness but also greater controversy. The US last used cluster munitions in 2003 in the Iraq war.
500th day of war
Saturday marks the 500th day of the war since Russia’s army invaded the neighboring country on February 24, 2022. From then until June 30, 2023, UN human rights experts in Ukraine have documented exactly 15,993 wounded and 9,177 killed . The UN counts only those cases that it was able to independently confirm. The number of casualties dropped slightly in the spring but rose again in May and June, he said.
According to the Ukrainian army, it had minor successes near the Russian-controlled city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region. Bakhmut was conquered and completely destroyed by Russian troops in May after months of fighting. In early June, Ukraine launched a slow-moving counter-offensive.