WASHINGTON: The United States (US) will provide thousands of cluster munitions to Kyiv, a top US official said on Friday.
The US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Washington would not leave Kyiv defenseless and that Ukraine has pledged to use the controversial munitions very carefully.
Washington to provide cluster munitions to Kyiv
AP reported that the decision comes on the eve of the Nato summit in Lithuania. US President Biden is likely to confront questions from his allies on why Washington would send a weapon into Kyiv that majority alliance members have banned.
Jake Sullivan defended the decision of the US, saying Washington will provide a version of the munitions that has a decreased “dud rate”.
“We understand the cluster munitions create a risk of civilian population harm from unexploded weaponry. This is why we have deferred the decision for as long as our administration could. But there is also a huge risk of civilian population harm if Russian forces and tanks roll over Ukraine’s positions and take its more territory and subjugate more civilians, as Kyiv does not have enough weapons. That is not tolerable to us.” the advisor said.
A pact banning the use of cluster bombs has been joined by over 120 nations that agreed not to produce, use, transfer or store the arms and to clear it after they have been used.
The US, Ukraine and Russia are among those countries who have not inked the pact.
The majority of NATO nations have also signed on to the cluster munitions ban, some of those countries nearest Russia like Latvia, Estonia, Romania, Turkiye and Poland have not.
At a Pentagon briefing, Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said the United States “would be carefully choosing rounds with lower dud rates”.
In a statement, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg stressed on Friday that the alliance takes no stance on cluster munitions. He added that the allies will make a decision over it. Germany said that it would not provide the bombs to Ukraine, but expressed understanding for Washington stance.
