Media: U.S. will announce delivery of cluster munitions to Ukraine

Ukraine has been demanding the supply of cluster munitions for months. According to Kyiv, this type of ammunition could accelerate the counteroffensive. Now U.S. media are reporting that the U.S. could finally agree.

Washington will announce a decision tomorrow on the supply of cluster munitions to Ukraine. This was first reported by National Public Radio and then confirmed by an anonymous source in the Biden administration. Moreover, according to the reports, the decision will be positive, the United States will agree to the supply of this type of ammunition.

This is intended to finally grant Ukraine its request for cluster munitions, which has been in place for a long time. Kiev believes that this will allow it to compensate for the shortage of ammunition and accelerate the sluggish counteroffensive. Cluster munitions would allow the Ukrainian military to more effectively hit entrenched positions of Russian troops and overcome the disadvantage in personnel and artillery.

Cluster munitions are a projectile equipped with explosive submunitions. When exploding, the submunitions are scattered, covering a much larger area than conventional ammunition. On humanitarian grounds, the use of this type of ammunition is heavily criticized, especially because of the threat to the civilian population from the uncontrolled distribution of unexploded ordnance. In 2008, representatives from 111 countries around the world formulated a convention banning the production, stockpiling and use of cluster munitions. The document entered into force on August 1, 2010, but the United States, Russia and Ukraine did not join the agreement.

In late June, Laura Cooper, a senior Defense Department official, told the U.S. Senate that the Pentagon considered Ukraine's use of cluster munitions helpful, especially against entrenched Russian positions on the battlefield.

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