"We are working with Ukraine to reduce the risks associated with these weapons." "The munitions we will provide Ukraine will have a dud rate of below 2.35%. "Russia has been using cluster munitions since the start of the war. Kahl, under secretary of defense for policy, said: "We will be able to provide Ukraine with extra artillery immediately. The deal includes controversial cluster munitions, which have been hotly debated since reports emerged that the US was considering sending them.Ĭolin H. President Joe Biden has announced a massive aid package for Ukraine worth a reported $800m. There is no guarantee of open-ended support for Ukraine. The announcement is part of a multi-million dollar tranche of new weaponry which is an attempt by the Biden administration to future proof the conflict to give Ukraine the weapons it needs now in case domestic political circumstances change in the next 18 months. The onus would be on Ukraine, with a pledge of American help, to clear the unexploded munitions when the war comes to an end. The risk to civilians would be owned by Ukraine. The munitions would be used by Ukraine on occupied Ukrainian soil. They could shift the momentum significantly on the ground, wiping out heavily dug in Russian troops.Īmerican officials are accepting that a legacy of civilian casualties is a risk but counter it by arguing that more civilians are at risk by allowing Russia to occupy Ukrainian land. A "bridge of supply" is necessary.Īmerica holds a vast dormant stockpile of cluster munitions. Ukraine is fast running out of more conventional artillery with supply stocks in America and elsewhere running low. The so-called spring offensive did not materialise in the spring and looks set to falter through the summer too. The transfer is a clear signal that the war is not going well for Ukraine. So why supply it? Well, the facts on the ground are not in Ukraine’s favour. Children are overwhelmingly the victims.īy supplying the weapon, there is a clear risk to civilians, not now necessarily, but in the future. The legacy of unexploded cluster bomblets is evident on former battlefields globally.Īmerica also risks losing the moral high ground against Russia by supplying a weapon banned by much of the world. Globally, civilians represent 97% of cluster munition casualties according to a report last year by the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor, an organisation which seeks to ban them altogether. The long and grim record of the cluster bomb explains the unease and the controversy. The White House is fully aware of the huge controversy surrounding this cluster munitions decision.ġ23 countries are part of the 2008 International Convention on Cluster Munitions which bans use or transfer of this particular weapon.Īlmost all of America’s allies are signatories to the convention.Įven within US government circles there has been deep unease about supplying its own stockpile of cluster munitions to Ukraine.Īs recently as last week, within the State Department, there was division about the decision to supply the weapon. And the real test will be when they identify those, how rapidly they're able to exploit those weak spots." "They are still probing Russian lines Russian areas for weak spots. "It's too early to judge how the counteroffensive is going one way or the other because we're at the beginning of the middle," Mr Kahl said at the Pentagon. He expressed confidence Kyiv was doing its best in a difficult fight. The United States and other allies have spent months building Ukraine a so-called "mountain of steel" of weaponry and training Ukrainian forces in combined arms techniques to help Kyiv pierce formidable Russian defenses during its counter-offensive.īut Russia also spent months digging into defensive positions, surrounding them with landmines and building heavily armed fortifications that have made Ukrainian advances in the east and south slow and bloody.Ĭolin Kahl, the Pentagon's top policy advisor, told reporters Russia was more successful digging in "than perhaps was fully appreciated." Ukraine's counteroffensive is going more slowly than some expected but it remains too early to draw conclusions about Kyiv's prospects for battlefield gains, a senior Pentagon official has said.
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