US send controversial weapons to Ukraine

Even though cluster bombs have a history of murdering civilians, US President Joe Biden has justified his “tough decision” to supply Ukraine with them.

Since “the Ukrainians are running out of ammunition,” the president stated it had taken him “a while to be convinced to do it,” but he finally did.

The “timely” action was praised by the leader of Ukraine, while Democrats and human rights organizations criticized it.

A Moscow diplomat criticized the “cynicism” of Washington.

Mr Biden stated that he had discussed the choice with allies before the Nato summit in Lithuania the following week.

Despite being outlawed by more than 120 nations, Russia and Ukraine employed cluster bombs during the conflict.

At Friday’s daily White House briefing, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stated that authorities “recognize the cluster munitions create a risk of civilian harm” from unexploded bombs.

This is the reason we postponed the choice as long as we could.

According to Mr Sullivan, Ukraine was out of artillery and needed “a bridge of supplies” until the US increased domestic production.

He declared, “We will never leave Ukraine defenceless during this terrible period.

The weapons’ failure rate, or “dud” rate, has generated criticism because it means that tiny unexploded bombs can stay on the ground for years before indiscriminately detonating later.

According to Mr. Sullivan, the American cluster bombs being deployed to Ukraine are much safer than those he claimed Russia is currently using in the fight.

He informed reporters that compared to Russian ones, the US ones have a dud rate of between 30 and 40%.

By doing this, Mr. Biden will circumvent US legislation that forbids the manufacture, use, or transfer of cluster munitions with failure rate of more than 1%.

When the White House was questioned early in the conflict about claims that Russia was employing cluster and vacuum bombs, the press secretary at the time responded that it might constitute a “war crime” if accurate.

The UN human rights office representative Marta Hurtado stated on Friday that the use of such weapons “should stop immediately and not be used in any place.”

The ambassador of Russia to the US criticized Mr Biden’s choice.

According to Anatoly Antonov, quoted by Tass news agency, “The cruelty and cynicism with which Washington has approached the issue of transferring lethal weapons to Kyiv is striking.”

“Now, through no fault of the US, there will be a risk for many years that innocent civilians will be blown up by submunitions that have failed.”

Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, has repeatedly said that the US and its allies are waging a growing proxy war in Ukraine.

Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, thanked President Trump for providing “a timely, broad and much-needed” military aid package of $800 million (£626 million).

It would “bring Ukraine closer to victory over the enemy, and democracy to victory over dictatorship,” he wrote in a tweet.

The eastern Donetsk and southern Zaporizhzhia regions are seeing continued progress in the counteroffensive against Ukraine, which started last month.

The battle had been hindered by a lack of sufficient weaponry, according to Ukraine’s military commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny, who also lamented the West’s tardy delivery of promised weapons.

By providing Ukraine with cluster munitions, according to Pentagon spokesperson Colin Kahl, “the Russians will know that the Ukrainians are going to stay in the game” during the fight.

Human rights organizations criticized the choice, with Amnesty International stating that cluster munitions pose “a grave threat to civilian lives, even long after the conflict has ended”.

The US Cluster Munition Coalition declared that the weapons will result in “greater suffering, today and for decades to come” as part of an international civil society drive to banish them.

The decision to deploy cluster munitions to Ukraine has drawn varied reactions from US politicians on Capitol Hill, with some Democrats dubbing it “alarming” and “a terrible mistake.”

A member of the House Armed Services Committee from Washington named Adam Smith disagreed, telling the media that the White House had made the “right call.”

One of the most crucial things we can do to lessen civilian losses, he stated, is to ensure the Ukrainians can reclaim their area.

The Democratic president’s action will enable Ukraine’s military “to target and eliminate Russian forces more efficiently,” according to a joint statement from Republican leaders on House & Senate foreign affairs committees.

Allies didn’t immediately reject Mr. Biden’s strategy.

Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of NATO, stated that the military alliance has no official position on cluster munitions.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions has been ratified by more than 120 nations, who have pledged not to use, manufacture, transfer, or store such weapons. The agreement is not a party to the US, Ukraine, or Russia.

Germany, a signatory to the prohibition pact, declared that it would not give such weapons to Ukraine but that it understood the American stance.

German government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit told reporters in Berlin, “We’re certain that our US friends didn’t take the decision about supplying such ammunition lightly.”

We must keep in mind that Russia has already made extensive use of cluster munitions throughout its unlawful war of aggression against Ukraine.

According to Human Rights Watch, both sides in the conflict utilized weapons, which resulted in “many civilian deaths and serious injuries.”