A man walks past the unexploded rear part of a 300mm rocket, which appears to contain cluster bombs launched from a grounded BM-30 Smerch multiple rocket launcher, after a shelling in Lisichansk, Lugansk region, April 11, 2022 There are
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A man walks past the unexploded rear part of a 300mm rocket, which appears to contain cluster bombs launched from a grounded BM-30 Smerch multiple rocket launcher, after a shelling in Lisichansk, Lugansk region, April 11, 2022 There are
Anatoly Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images
Despite concerns from human rights groups that the deployment of such weapons threatens civilians, the United States is supplying cluster munitions to Ukraine to help defend its territory against Russia.
Speaking at the Pentagon on Friday, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl announced a new $800 million cut in military aid, including DPICMS or cluster bombs.
US officials say Ukraine has given written assurances to reduce civilian casualties from the use of the controversial weapon as rights groups insist the weapon drops dozens of bombs that put civilians at risk. Cluster bombs release a large number of bombs over a wide area, and they can pose a lethal threat even after combat is over.
More than 100 countries ban such weapons because unexploded bombs can be picked up by civilians, causing injury or death.
NPR first learned of the plan to send cluster bombs to Ukraine earlier this week.
President Biden told CNN in an exclusive interview that the decision to send Ukraine cluster munitions was a “very difficult one”.
“And by the way, I discussed this with my colleagues, I discussed this with my friends on the Hill,” Biden said, according to CNN. “The Ukrainians are running out of ammunition.”
Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at the White House that Ukraine needed the cluster munitions as a “supply bridge” as the US worked to increase production of other types of artillery to supply Ukraine. Used to be.
“We will not leave Ukraine helpless at any time during this conflict,” Sullivan said.
A boy walks past cluster bomb shells and rusted parts of other military hardware at a scrap metal shop along a main road in Phonsavanh, Laos, August 1, 1998.
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A boy walks past cluster bomb shells and rusted parts of other military hardware at a scrap metal shop along a main road in Phonsavanh, Laos, August 1, 1998.
Jerry Redfern/LightRocket via Getty Images
Sullivan said that the United States had stopped the supply of munitions because of the risk to civilians and consulted with allies about the decision.
He added that Russia is using cluster weapons to attack Ukraine, meaning that the United States would need to help Ukraine with demilitarization after the conflict in any scenario. Sullivan said Ukraine is motivated to use the weapons in a way that minimizes the risk to its citizens, and has also formally agreed to use them cautiously.
By one estimate, at least 40% of bombs fail to explode upon impact. According to White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, the cluster warheads the US is providing to Ukraine will have a failure rate of less than 3%.
Kirby told all things Considered Ukraine needs this type of “innovative” additional equipment to achieve a successful counterattack against Russian defenses, which, he said, “are proving very formidable.”
Humanitarian groups warn citizens of their danger
Over 120 countries have agreed on the 2008 UN treaty banning their use, America, Russia and Ukraine are not among them.
Prior to the announcement, Sera Kulabdara of the US Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Munitions Coalition described cluster munitions as “terrible”.
“Once they scatter, they scatter over a large amount of areas, and their failure rates are very, very high,” Koulabdara explained. morning edition. “Once they are removed, they will continue to affect civilian life for decades to come, as well as killing civilians today.”
Kulabdra urged Ukrainian and American leaders to “look to history and to the United States at our own history in countries like Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Afghanistan (and) Iraq.”
“You learn from the effects and legacies that wars have on human lives,” Koulabdara said, “from the lives of citizens who have a name, who have mothers, who have fathers who care for them.”