The US will send cluster munitions to Ukraine as part of a new military aid package, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed on Friday, following months of debate within the Biden administration.
The US will send cluster munitions to Ukraine as part of a new military aid package, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed on Friday, following months of debate within the Biden administration about whether to provide Kyiv with the controversial weapons banned by over 100 countries including key US allies.
Throughout the conflict the US has, in the face of intense lobbying, gradually agreed to Kyiv’s requests for more aggressive weaponry including Patriot Missile systems and modern tanks, but the decision to send cluster munitions marks a watershed moment with the Biden administration agreeing to send a weapon that most countries have agreed should have no place in modern warfare.
The munitions will be compatible with the US-provided 155 mm howitzers, a key piece of artillery that has allowed Ukraine to win back territory over the last year, according to the Pentagon. In a statement announcing a new round of aid to Ukraine, the Defense Department said the US will be providing “155mm artillery rounds, including DPICM,” or Dual Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions – the type of cluster munition the US currently has in its stockpiles.
Human rights advocates have condemned the move. Human Rights Watch said in a report on Thursday that “transferring these weapons would inevitably cause long-term suffering for civilians and undermine the international opprobrium of their use.” A higher dud rate means more of the small bomblets scattered by cluster munitions fail to explode on impact, posing a risk to civilians who may encounter them later. Ryder said the Russians have been using cluster munitions with a dud rate of as high as 40%.
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