2023-07-07 19:41:15
US media reported on Thursday about planned deliveries, citing government sources. It was a difficult decision, Biden decided to take this step, said Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, in the White House on Friday. Ukraine would use the cluster munitions in its own country for defense, Sullivan said. Russia is also using cluster munitions in Ukraine.
Sullivan defended the decision: “We recognize that cluster munitions pose a risk of harm to civilians from unexploded munitions. That’s why we postponed the decision for as long as we could.” Biden agreed on the step with the allies. “We will never leave Ukraine defenseless at this stage of the conflict. period,” says Sullivan.
Ukraine has long been demanding the delivery of cluster munitions. Like Russia, his country also wants to use this type of weaponry, i.e. to create equality of arms, said Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Olexandr Kubrakov at the Munich Security Conference in mid-February when he called for cluster munitions. “It’s our territory,” he said. The ammunition could help to withstand the attackers.
Moscow warns of further escalation
Meanwhile, Russia warned of an increase in violence in the war if the United States were to supply cluster munitions to Ukraine. “This is a new step towards an escalation of the conflict,” said Russia’s UN Ambassador Vasily Nebensia. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused the United States of being a diversionary tactic when they spoke of allegedly “less dangerous” cluster munitions for Ukraine. According to the US Department of Defense, the cluster munitions promised by the USA have a dud rate of around 2.4 percent.
NATO chief expresses understanding
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg signaled his understanding for delivering cluster munitions to Ukraine. On Friday in Brussels he pointed out that Russia was also using cluster munitions. However, the country does not use them for self-defense, but to invade Ukraine. “We are facing a brutal war,” said Stoltenberg.
debate
Ukraine war: How to stop further escalation?
At the same time, the NATO Secretary General made it clear that NATO as an organization does not have a common position on the subject. According to him, this is the case because some of the NATO countries have signed a treaty banning cluster munitions, while others have not. “It is up to individual allies to make decisions on the supply of arms and military supplies to Ukraine,” he said. The decisions should be made by governments and not by NATO as an alliance.
Used by both sides
According to Human Rights Watch, cluster munitions are also used by the Ukrainian side. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the country inherited a large stock of cluster munitions – around two million tons. In April 2022, the New York Times reported on a Ukrainian use of cluster munitions in the town of Hussarivka in the Kharkiv region. Uragan cluster munitions rockets of Soviet design were used.
Archyde.com/Clodagh Kilcoyne A Ukrainian serviceman holds a defused cluster bomb near Kharkiv
Cluster munitions are rockets and bombs that burst in the air over the target, scattering or releasing many small explosive devices – the submunitions. This makes them an effective but undirected weapon. Cluster munitions are often used to inhibit enemy troop movements, disable airstrips, and destroy vehicle convoys.
Effective weapon, but high risk of duds
The cluster munitions promised by the USA could be “used extensively against troop concentrations,” Austrian military expert Colonel Markus Reisner told the news channel n-tv. This puts Ukraine in a position to prevent Russian reserves from being brought in or to attack them in a targeted manner. “This leads to the isolation of possible planned breakthrough sites,” says Reisner. In addition, it is possible for the Ukrainians to use cluster munitions to attack Russian positions at breakthrough points themselves.
“It cannot be denied that the area effect of such ammunition would partially compensate for the numerical inferiority of the Ukrainian artillery,” said German weapons expert Frank Sauer to the news magazine “Spiegel”. The announcement from Washington is to be understood as a reaction to the fact that the Ukrainian counter-offensive is running slower than expected, explained the independent military expert Franz-Stefan Gady.
Cluster bombs have been criticized because they often fall unguided and land far outside of the intended target area. The main point of criticism, however, is that a significant percentage of the explosive devices often do not detonate, but remain lying around as duds, thus endangering the population. Eliminating the still active bomblets after a conflict is also dangerous and time-consuming.
Not with the Oslo Accords
The UN Human Rights Office in Geneva called for an immediate halt to the use of cluster munitions and called on Russia and Ukraine to join the Oslo Convention, which bans the use, manufacture and transfer of certain types of cluster munitions. More than 120 states have signed this convention, Russia, Ukraine and the USA are not among them.
In the treaty, states undertake “never under any circumstances to use, develop, manufacture, otherwise acquire, stockpile, retain or transfer to anyone, directly or indirectly, cluster munitions”. It says, among other things, that they are determined to “end the suffering and death” caused by cluster munitions. There is concern that “cluster munitions remnants could kill or maim civilians, including women and children.”
The defense ministers of Austria, Germany and Switzerland, Klaudia Tanner (ÖVP), Boris Pistorius and Viola Amherd, said that supplying cluster munitions was out of the question for their countries. In a joint press conference in Berne on Friday, Amherd said that Russia had been using cluster munitions in Ukraine for some time. “Of course, this is another escalation.” Pistorius “did not want to comment” on the US decision itself.
Human rights organization against delivery
The human rights organization Human Rights Watch has also called on Ukraine and Russia to stop using cluster munitions. At the same time, she asked the United States to refuse Ukraine’s request for the supply of this ammunition. Civilians were killed in both Russian and Ukrainian attacks with cluster munitions.
“Cluster munitions used by Russia and Ukraine are killing civilians and will continue to do so for many years to come,” said Mary Wareham, weapons director at Human Rights Watch. She also refers to duds, which often only detonate later. Both sides should stop using it immediately and not try to get more of these indiscriminately killing weapons.
Already used in World War II
Cluster munitions were developed and used as early as World War II. However, their use only increased significantly during the Vietnam War. In the decades that followed, the technology continued to be refined, leading to increased effectiveness but also increased controversy. The US last used cluster munitions in 2003 in the Iraq war.
500th day of war
Saturday marks the 500th day of the war since Russia’s army invaded the neighboring country on February 24, 2022. Since then, until June 30, 2023, the UN human rights experts in Ukraine have documented exactly 15,993 injuries and 9,177 deaths. The UN only counts cases that it has been able to independently confirm. The number of victims fell somewhat in the spring, but rose again in May and June, it said.
According to the Ukrainian army, it has had small successes near the Russian-controlled city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region. Bakhmut was conquered and completely destroyed by Russian troops in May after months of fighting. In early June, Ukraine launched a counteroffensive that is making slow progress.
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