WASHINGTON
\nThe United States announced on Friday that it will send Ukraine widely-banned cluster munitions as part of a security assistance package, a move Ukraine said would have an \u201cextraordinary psycho-emotional impact\u201d on occupying Russian forces.
\nJake Sullivan, President Joe Biden\u2019s National Security Adviser, laid out the case on Friday for providing cluster munitions to Ukraine ahead of an expected Pentagon announcement.
\n\u201cWe recognise that cluster munitions create a risk of civilian harm from unexploded ordnance,\u201d Sullivan told reporters. \u201cThis is why we\u2019ve deferred the decision for as long as we could.
\n\u201cBut there is also 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,\u201d he said.
\nCluster munitions are prohibited by more than 100 countries. They typically release large numbers of smaller bomblets that can kill indiscriminately over a wide area and those that fail to explode pose a danger for decades after a conflict ends.
\n\u201cUkraine has provided written assurances that it is going to use these in a very careful way\u201d to minimise risks to civilians, Sullivan said.
\nHuman rights groups oppose Washington\u2019s decision, but the munitions could provide a boost to a Ukrainian counter-offensive to reclaim territory seized by Russian forces. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is against the continued use of cluster munitions, a spokesperson said on Friday when asked about the planned US announcement.
\nGermany opposes sending cluster munitions to Ukraine, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said. Germany is one of 111 states party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The US is not a party to the convention.
\n\u201cUndoubtedly, the transfer of additional volumes of shells to Ukraine is a very significant contribution to the acceleration of de-occupation procedures,\u201d presidential political adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Friday.
\n\u201cEspecially if we are talking about cluster ammunition, which is undoubtedly capable of having an extraordinary psycho-emotional impact on already demoralised Russian occupation groups,\u201d he said.
\nWaiver required
\nSending cluster munitions, known as Dual-Purpose Conven\u00adtional Improved Munitions would ease a drain on standard 155 millimetre shells that Washington has been shipping to Kyiv in massive quantities.
\nHuman Rights Watch has accused both Russian and Ukrainian forces of using cluster munitions that have killed civilians. A 2009 law bans exports of US cluster munitions with bomblet failure rates higher than one per cent, which covers virtually all of the US military stocpile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON The United States announced on Friday that it will send Ukraine widely-banned cluster munitions as part of a security assistance package, a move Ukraine said would have an \u201cextraordinary psycho-emotional impact\u201d on occupying Russian forces. Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden\u2019s National Security Adviser, laid out the case on Friday for providing cluster munitions to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342123,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-342107","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n