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On July 7, Washington announced its decision to arm the Ukrainian military with cluster munitions. The United States national security advisor to President Joe Biden Jake Sullivan explained that Washington recognized that such bombs pose risks to civilians, so the United States had postponed its decision. The news comes after Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report that said Ukraine has killed its own citizens using the munitions.
The supply of cluster munitions is allegedly a temporary measure taken before increasing the production of conventional artillery ammunition, Washington claimed. He refused to disclose the volume of deliveries.
US President Joe Biden claimed that the decision to transfer cluster munitions to Ukraine was made because it was running out of conventional shells.
Sullivan traditionally claimed that the United Stated has received guarantees from Kiev that the latter will use cluster munitions “with caution”.
In his turn, Kiev claimed that cluster munitions will help its military “de-occupy” Ukrainian territories, while preserving the lives of Ukrainian soldiers. Ukrainian Defense Minister listed five rules of the use of cluster munitions by the Armed Forces of Ukraine:
- Ukraine will use cluster munitions only for “de-occupation” and will not target “the officially recognized territory of Russia.”
- Cluster munitions will not be used in urban areas. Kiev intends to use them only in the areas of concentration of Russian military equipment.
- The Ukrainian authorities will keep a “strict record” of the areas in which cluster munitions are used.
- The areas where such shells were used will later become a priority for mine clearance. The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine promises to prepare an appropriate legal framework for this.
- Kiev will inform its partners about the use of cluster munitions and their effectiveness, “in order to ensure an appropriate standard of transparent reporting and control.”
The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, commenting on Reznikov’s publication, doubted that Kiev would follow these rules, as it was the case of previously supplied weapons.
“Who is he telling? Accounting and reporting are not about Ukraine under the current Kiev regime,” she wrote in her telegram channel.
Revealing Washington’s hypocrisy, Maria Zakharova also recalled statement of the White House made last year, calling the use of cluster munitions a “war crime.”
Cluster bombs scatter small submunitions over large areas, making them especially hazardous to civilians who can find unexploded munitions years after they were dropped. Because of their indiscriminate nature, cluster munitions have been banned by more than 100 nations. The US, Ukraine, and Russia are not parties to the treaty, known as the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
The UN opposed the use of cluster munitions in Ukraine. Their transfer to Kiev was not supported by Germany and Austria.
“The use of cluster munitions in populated areas violates the laws of war due to the indiscriminate nature of the weapon and may amount to war crimes,” HRW said.
The HRW report said that Ukrainian cluster munition rocket attacks in the eastern city of Izium in 2022 killed at least eight civilians and wounded 15 more. Ukraine’s use of cluster bombs on people living in the Donbass goes back to 2014. That year, HRW issued a report that said Kyiv was using the controversial munitions against populated areas of Donetsk.
On April 4, 2023, footage from the battlefields revealed that Kiev forces had begun using Israeli cluster mortar rounds against the Russian military.
In January 2023, Swedish-French smart artillery cluster rounds were also spotted in Ukraine.
The military experts of the JCCC of the DPR have repeatedly confirmed the shelling of civilians with cluster warheads. LINK
