(Headline USA) Joe Biden announced that America will provide cluster munitions to Ukraine on Friday.
The decision comes on the eve of the NATO summit in Lithuania, where Biden is likely to face questions from allies on why the U.S. would send a weapon into Ukraine that more than two-thirds of alliance members have banned because it has a track record for causing many civilian casualties.
The move was met with divided reactions from Congress, as some criticized the plan while some backed it.
For everyone freaking out about cluster munitions, we used them a lot, and Russia has been using them since day one . If you think the millions of artillery and cluster rounds RUSSIA has fired isn’t going to be the issue after the war, you are wrong.
— Adam Kinzinger (@AdamKinzinger) July 9, 2023
The munitions — which are bombs that open in the air and release scores of smaller bomblets — are seen by the U.S. as a way to get Kyiv critically needed ammunition to help bolster its offensive and push through Russian front lines. U.S. leaders debated the thorny issue for months, before Biden made the final decision this week.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the U.S. will send a version of the munition that has a reduced “dud rate,” meaning fewer of the smaller bomblets fail to explode. The unexploded rounds, which often litter battlefields and populated civilian areas, cause unintended deaths. U.S. officials have said Washington will provide thousands of the rounds, but provided no specific numbers.
“We recognize the cluster munitions create a risk of civilian harm from unexploded ordnance,” Sullivan told a White House briefing. “This is why we’ve deferred the decision for as long as we could.”
Marta Hurtado, speaking for the U.N. human rights office, said Friday “the use of such munitions should stop immediately and not be used in any place.”
U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “wants countries to abide by the terms of that convention and so as a result, of course, he does not want there to be continued use of cluster munitions on the battlefield.”
Colin Kahl said the key reason to provide the bombs is to keep Ukraine in the fight.
“Things are going a little slower than some had hoped,” Kahl said in a Pentagon briefing. “So this is to make sure that the Ukrainians have the confidence that they have what they need. But frankly, also that the Russians know that the Ukrainians are going to stay in the game.”
Congressional reactions were mixed. Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., called the decision “unnecessary and a terrible mistake.” And Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said the civilian risk lingers “often long after a conflict is over.” Meanwhile, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, backed the move, saying Ukraine needs access to weapons Russia already is using.
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, some cluster munitions leave behind bomblets that have a high rate of failure to explode — up to 40% in some cases.
A convention banning the use of cluster bombs has been joined by more than 120 countries that agreed not to use, produce, transfer or stockpile the weapons and to clear them after they’ve been used. The United States, Russia and Ukraine are among those who have not signed on.
The cluster munitions are included in a new $800 million package of military aid the U.S. will send to Ukraine.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
