Similar to landmines, cluster munitions disperse “bomblets” over wide areas and have the potential to fail to detonate upon impact, posing a long-term risk to anyone who comes into contact with them…reports Asian Lite News
President Joe Biden gas said that providing Ukraine with cluster munitions for the first time was a “difficult decision,” but he was ultimately convinced to send the widely-banned weapons because Kyiv needed the ammunition against its ongoing counteroffensive against Russia.
The White House announced sending cluster munitions to Ukraine, the latest episode where the UK has provided Kyiv with weapons it previously refrained from sending into war. “It was a very difficult decision on my part. And by the way, I discussed this with our allies, I discussed this with our friends up on the Hill,” Biden said, adding, “The Ukrainians are running out of ammunition.”
The US President made these remarks in an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.
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The munitions are compatible with the 155 mm howitzers that the US is providing, a crucial piece of artillery that has helped Ukraine retake territory over the last year.
Biden told Zakaria that the cluster munitions were being as a “transition period” until the US is capable to produce more 155 mm artillery.
“This is a war relating to munitions. And they’re running out of that ammunition, and we’re low on it,” Biden said, adding, “And so, what I finally did, I took the recommendation of the Defence Department to – not permanently – but to allow for this transition period, while we get more 155 weapons, these shells, for the Ukrainians.”
The US and Ukraine have not ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which has been outlawed by more than 100 nations, including the UK, France, and Germany.
“They’re trying to get through those trenches and stop those tanks from rolling. But it was not an easy decision,” Biden said, adding, “We’re not signatories to that agreement, but it took me a while to be convinced to do it.”
He said further, “But the main thing is they either have the weapons to stop the Russians now – keep them from stopping the Ukrainian offensive through these areas – or they don’t. And I think they needed them.”
The decision to supply cluster munitions is made at a crucial juncture in the conflict when the Ukrainians are struggling to make significant progress in their counteroffensive against Russia.
On Sunday, Biden will depart on a week-long journey to Europe, which will include attending the NATO summit in Lithuania. The summit will be dominated by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine as well as Kyiv’s efforts to join the alliance.
Similar to landmines, cluster munitions disperse “bomblets” over wide areas and have the potential to fail to detonate upon impact, posing a long-term risk to anyone who comes into contact with them. The US and Ukraine have not ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which has been outlawed by more than 100 nations, including the UK, France, and Germany.
The provision of the weapons to Ukraine is “not an option” for Berlin because it is a signatory to the agreement, said German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius on Friday. He did not, however, offer his opinion on the US government’s choice, saying, “Those countries that have not signed the convention – China, Russia, Ukraine and the US – it is not up to me to comment on their actions.”
The munitions the US is expected to deliver may have a dud rate of up to 2.35 per cent, according to Pentagon Press Secretary Brig Gen Patrick Ryder. Biden would disregard legislative limitations placed by Congress on exporting weapons with a greater than one per cent “dud” rate, Ryder said on Thursday.
A higher dud rate indicates that more of the small bomblets scattered by cluster munitions do not detonate upon impact, posing a risk to nearby bystanders. According to Ryder, the Russians have been employing cluster munitions, which can have a 40 per cent failure rate.
Since last year, Ukrainian officials have pushed the US to deliver the munitions, claiming that they would increase the ammo for the artillery and rocket systems that the West has provided and assist reduce Russia’s numerical advantage in artillery.
Given how many nations around the world have outlawed the weapons, insiders told CNN that Biden was first reluctant.
However, the Pentagon advised Biden that the munitions be provided to Ukraine at least on a temporary basis until non-cluster ammunition is able to be resupplied, officials said. This was because of the changing battlefield conditions inside Ukraine over the last three weeks, which prompted US officials to give them renewed and serious consideration.
If the counteroffensive carries on, officials and military analysts said it’s unclear whether the large amount of artillery ammunition that the Ukrainians have been using daily could be sustained without the cluster explosives. In the end, Biden agreed with their analysis.
Boris Gryzlov, the Russian ambassador to Belarus, described the US action as “a move of desperation.”
“As part of the continued assistance to the Kyiv regime, Washington is considering the possibility of sending cluster munitions to Ukraine. There has been talk about it since spring,” Gryzlov told Russian state news agency TASS on Friday.
“Now, the ‘hawks’ in the West have realized that the much-advertised counter-offensive of the Ukrainian armed forces did not go according to plan, so they are trying at all costs to give at least some impetus to it. In fact, it is a move of desperation,” Gryzlov added. (ANI)
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