The US tends to supply cluster munitions to Ukraine and the announcement could come as early as next month, two senior US officials have said.
A third US official said the US is considering supplying improved conventional ammunition (DPICMs) to Ukraine but declined to give a timeline for an announcement.
DPICMs are surface-to-surface warheads that detonate, dispersing multiple small munitions or bombs over wide areas – causing more destruction than single missiles. The projectiles can be shaped charges that penetrate armored vehicles, but they can also shatter or fragment, making them more dangerous and deadly to personnel.
Some human rights groups oppose their use, fearing that unexploded bomblets or duds could detonate after combat, possibly injuring or killing innocent civilians.
Ukraine has been asking the US for DPICMs since last year, but the idea has met with opposition due to an international treaty banning the transfer, use and stockpiling of the weapon, called the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
The US, Ukraine and Russia are not signatories to the treaty, but more than 100 countries, including many US allies, are.
The US developed cluster munitions during the Cold War and later stockpiled large numbers, many of which are now nearing the end of their useful lives. This week, a bipartisan group of congressmen sent a letter urging the Biden administration to unleash the “untapped, vast arsenal” on Ukraine.
DPICMs can be fired from artillery systems that the US has already provided to Ukraine.
Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., a member of the Armed Services Committee, sent a letter Thursday asking Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin for details, including DPICM unexploded ordnance rates and variants in US inventory being sent to Ukraine could become.
“As you know, the United States has restricted the use of cluster munitions for both legal and political reasons,” Crow wrote. “I believe that any change in policy requires public discourse, and to achieve that, more public information is needed.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com