2023-07-11 12:20:54
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States government will supply Ukraine with cluster munitions, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan announced Friday, adding that Kiev has vowed to use the controversial weapons carefully.
The decision came on the eve of a NATO summit in Lithuania, where US President Joe Biden is likely to face questions from allies regarding why the United States would send Ukraine a type of weapon that more than two-thirds of members of the alliance have banned because it has a history of causing heavy civilian casualties.
Cluster bombs open in midair, releasing submunitions that are dispersed over a large area to destroy multiple targets simultaneously.
The United States believes that kyiv needs these munitions to bolster its counteroffensive and push through the Russian lines at the front. US leaders debated the issue for months before Biden made the final decision this week.
Sullivan defended the decision, saying the United States will send a version of the cluster munition that has a reduced dull rate, meaning there will be fewer unexploded submunitions.
Unexploded shells, which often litter battlefields and populated civilian areas, have caused unwanted deaths. US officials have said the United States will provide thousands of munitions, but did not give specific numbers.
“We recognize that cluster munitions create a risk of civilian harm from unexploded ordnance,” Sullivan admitted at a White House news conference. “But there is also a massive risk of civilian harm if Russian troops and tanks drive over Ukrainian positions and take more Ukrainian territory and subjugate more Ukrainian civilians, because Ukraine doesn’t have enough artillery. For us that is intolerable.”
However, Marta Hurtado, speaking on behalf of the UN human rights office, said on Friday that “the use of this type of ammunition must stop immediately and not be used anywhere.”
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