The US stated Friday that it will supply cluster bombs to Ukraine for the first time, as Kyiv’s soldiers face difficult fighting in their counteroffensive against invading Russian troops.
Due to the danger that unexploded bomblets offer to civilians, the action prompted harsh criticism from rights groups, but Washington claimed it had gotten assurances from Kyiv that it would reduce damage to civilians, particularly by not employing the explosives in inhabited areas.
President Joe Biden told CNN that the decision to provide the munitions was “very difficult,” but that Ukrainian forces were “running out of ammunition.”
“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,” he said.
A new military aid package announced Friday includes “dual-purpose improved conventional munitions,” the Pentagon said in a statement, referring to cluster bombs.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rapidly expressed gratitude for the “much-needed” aid, tweeting that “the expansion of Ukraine’s defense capabilities will provide new tools for the de-occupation of our land and bringing peace closer.”
According to US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, there is “a massive risk of civilian harm if Russian troops and tanks roll over Ukrainian positions and take more Ukrainian territory and subjugate more Ukrainian civilians because Ukraine does not have enough artillery.”
“Kyiv has provided written assurances that it will use these in a very careful manner,” he added, adding that Ukraine’s government “has every incentive to minimize risk to civilians, because they are their citizens.”
Ukraine promised not to deploy the rounds in civilian-populated areas and to record where they were used to aid demining work after the war, according to US Undersecretary of Defense Colin Kahl.
