According to media reports, the US wants to deliver controversial cluster munitions to Ukraine. Radio station NPR and the New York Times reported today, citing US government officials, that a corresponding announcement is likely to be made soon. Politico reported that US President Joe Biden has yet to make a final decision.
According to some military experts, cluster bombs could help Ukraine in its counter-offensive against Russian troops, who have entrenched themselves in trenches, among other things. However, cluster munitions are banned internationally. Cluster bombs release dozens or even hundreds of smaller explosive devices, many of which do not detonate immediately. They can therefore continue to kill and injure people long after they have been released and are therefore a particular danger to the civilian population.
An international agreement that came into force in 2010 – the Oslo Convention – prohibits the production, stockpiling, use and transfer of cluster munitions. However, neither the US nor Ukraine joined the agreement, nor Russia and China, for example. In the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, both warring parties use cluster munitions.