WASHINGTON: The Biden administration will provide cluster munitions to Ukraine, national security adviser Jake Sullivan has said, vowing the US will not leave Ukraine defenceless and asserting that Kyiv has promised to use the controversial bombs carefully.
The decision comes on the eve of the NATO summit in Lithuania, where President Joe Biden is likely to face questions from allies on why the US would send a weapon into Ukraine that more than two-thirds of alliance members have banned because it has a track record for causing many civilian casualties. And it was met with divided reactions from Congress, as some Democrats criticised the plan while some Republicans backed it.
The munitions — which are bombs that open in the air and release scores of smaller bomblets — are seen by the US as a way to get Kyiv critically needed ammunition to help bolster its offensive and push through Russian front lines. US leaders debated the thorny issue for months, before Biden made the final decision this week.
Sullivan defended the decision on Friday, saying the US will send a version of the munition that has a reduced “dud rate”, meaning fewer of the smaller bomblets fail to explode. The unexploded rounds, which often litter battlefields and populated civilian areas, cause unintended deaths. US officials have said the US will provide thousands of the rounds, but provided no specific numbers.
“We recognise the cluster munitions create a risk of civilian harm from unexploded ordnance,” he told a White House briefing. “This is why we’ve deferred the decision for as long as we could. But there is also a massive risk of civilian harm if Russian troops and tanks roll over Ukrainian positions and take more Ukrainian territory and subjugate more Ukrainian civilians, because Ukraine does not have enough artillery. That is intolerable to us.”
But Marta Hurtado, speaking for the UN human rights office, said Friday, “The use of such munitions should stop immediately and not be used in any place.”
Colin Kahl, the under secretary of defence for policy, said the US will give Ukraine the most modern cluster munitions that have far lower dud rates. He said the bombs have been tested five times between 1998 and 2020, and the US is confident the rate of unexploded duds is below 2.35 per cent. While he declined to say how many the US will send now, he said the US has “hundreds of thousands” of cluster munitions available for Ukraine at the low dud rate.
He said the key reason to provide the bombs is to keep Ukraine in the fight.
“Things are going a little slower than some had hoped,” Kahl said in a Pentagon briefing. “So this is to make sure that the Ukrainians have the confidence that they have what they need. But frankly, also that the Russians know that the Ukrainians are going to stay in the game.”
Kahl said the Ukrainians have provided written assurances that they will not use the munitions in urban areas that are populated by civilians and that there will be a careful accounting of where they are employed.
Questioned at length about the decision, Sullivan said the US consulted closely with allies before making the final decision, noting that even allies who have signed on to a ban of the bombs “have indicated, both privately and many of them publicly over the course of today, that they understand our decision”.
Allies “recognise the difference between Russia using its cluster munitions to attack Ukraine and Ukraine using cluster munitions to defend itself, its citizens and its sovereign territory”, he said. The US “will not leave Ukraine defenceless at any point in this conflict, period”.
Still, US reaction was mixed. Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., called the decision “unnecessary and a terrible mistake”. And Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said the civilian risk lingers “often long after a conflict is over”. Meanwhile, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, backed the move, saying Ukraine needs access to weapons Russia already is using.
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, some cluster munitions leave behind bomblets that have a high rate of failure to explode — up to 40 per cent in some cases. With a claimed rate under 3 per cent for the supply to Ukraine, US officials said there would be fewer unexploded bombs left behind to harm civilians.
A convention banning the use of cluster bombs has been joined by more than 120 countries that agreed not to use, produce, transfer or stockpile the weapons and to clear them after they’ve been used. The United States, Russia and Ukraine are among those who have not signed on.
Ryan Brobst, a research analyst for the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, said that while the majority of NATO members have signed on to the cluster munitions ban, several of those nearest Russia — Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Romania and Turkey — have not.
“The most important of those are Poland and Romania,” Brobst said, noting that the US weapons will probably go through those countries en route to Ukraine. “While some allies raise objections, this is not going to prevent (cluster munitions) from being transferred into Ukraine.”
The cluster munitions are included in a new USD 800 million package of military aid the US will send to Ukraine. Friday’s package, drawn from Pentagon stocks, will also include Bradley and Stryker armoured vehicles and an array of ammunition, such as rounds for howitzers and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, officials said.
Kahl said the cluster bombs are not a permanent solution, but more of “a bridge” as the US and allies work to increase the production of the 155 mm rounds.
So far, the reactions from allies have been muted. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stressed on Friday that the military alliance takes no position on cluster munitions and it is a decision that allies will make. And Germany, which has signed the ban treaty, said it won’t provide the bombs to Ukraine, but expressed understanding for the American position.
Oleksandra Ustinova, a member of Ukraine’s parliament who has been advocating that Washington send more weapons, noted that Ukrainian forces have had to disable mines from much of the territory they are winning back from Russia. As part of that process, Ukrainians will also be able to catch any unexploded ordnance from cluster munitions.
The decision comes on the eve of the NATO summit in Lithuania, where President Joe Biden is likely to face questions from allies on why the US would send a weapon into Ukraine that more than two-thirds of alliance members have banned because it has a track record for causing many civilian casualties. And it was met with divided reactions from Congress, as some Democrats criticised the plan while some Republicans backed it.
The munitions — which are bombs that open in the air and release scores of smaller bomblets — are seen by the US as a way to get Kyiv critically needed ammunition to help bolster its offensive and push through Russian front lines. US leaders debated the thorny issue for months, before Biden made the final decision this week.
Sullivan defended the decision on Friday, saying the US will send a version of the munition that has a reduced “dud rate”, meaning fewer of the smaller bomblets fail to explode. The unexploded rounds, which often litter battlefields and populated civilian areas, cause unintended deaths. US officials have said the US will provide thousands of the rounds, but provided no specific numbers.
“We recognise the cluster munitions create a risk of civilian harm from unexploded ordnance,” he told a White House briefing. “This is why we’ve deferred the decision for as long as we could. But there is also a massive risk of civilian harm if Russian troops and tanks roll over Ukrainian positions and take more Ukrainian territory and subjugate more Ukrainian civilians, because Ukraine does not have enough artillery. That is intolerable to us.”
But Marta Hurtado, speaking for the UN human rights office, said Friday, “The use of such munitions should stop immediately and not be used in any place.”
Colin Kahl, the under secretary of defence for policy, said the US will give Ukraine the most modern cluster munitions that have far lower dud rates. He said the bombs have been tested five times between 1998 and 2020, and the US is confident the rate of unexploded duds is below 2.35 per cent. While he declined to say how many the US will send now, he said the US has “hundreds of thousands” of cluster munitions available for Ukraine at the low dud rate.
He said the key reason to provide the bombs is to keep Ukraine in the fight.
“Things are going a little slower than some had hoped,” Kahl said in a Pentagon briefing. “So this is to make sure that the Ukrainians have the confidence that they have what they need. But frankly, also that the Russians know that the Ukrainians are going to stay in the game.”
Kahl said the Ukrainians have provided written assurances that they will not use the munitions in urban areas that are populated by civilians and that there will be a careful accounting of where they are employed.
Questioned at length about the decision, Sullivan said the US consulted closely with allies before making the final decision, noting that even allies who have signed on to a ban of the bombs “have indicated, both privately and many of them publicly over the course of today, that they understand our decision”.
Allies “recognise the difference between Russia using its cluster munitions to attack Ukraine and Ukraine using cluster munitions to defend itself, its citizens and its sovereign territory”, he said. The US “will not leave Ukraine defenceless at any point in this conflict, period”.
Still, US reaction was mixed. Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., called the decision “unnecessary and a terrible mistake”. And Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said the civilian risk lingers “often long after a conflict is over”. Meanwhile, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, backed the move, saying Ukraine needs access to weapons Russia already is using.
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, some cluster munitions leave behind bomblets that have a high rate of failure to explode — up to 40 per cent in some cases. With a claimed rate under 3 per cent for the supply to Ukraine, US officials said there would be fewer unexploded bombs left behind to harm civilians.
A convention banning the use of cluster bombs has been joined by more than 120 countries that agreed not to use, produce, transfer or stockpile the weapons and to clear them after they’ve been used. The United States, Russia and Ukraine are among those who have not signed on.
Ryan Brobst, a research analyst for the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, said that while the majority of NATO members have signed on to the cluster munitions ban, several of those nearest Russia — Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Romania and Turkey — have not.
“The most important of those are Poland and Romania,” Brobst said, noting that the US weapons will probably go through those countries en route to Ukraine. “While some allies raise objections, this is not going to prevent (cluster munitions) from being transferred into Ukraine.”
The cluster munitions are included in a new USD 800 million package of military aid the US will send to Ukraine. Friday’s package, drawn from Pentagon stocks, will also include Bradley and Stryker armoured vehicles and an array of ammunition, such as rounds for howitzers and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, officials said.
Kahl said the cluster bombs are not a permanent solution, but more of “a bridge” as the US and allies work to increase the production of the 155 mm rounds.
So far, the reactions from allies have been muted. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stressed on Friday that the military alliance takes no position on cluster munitions and it is a decision that allies will make. And Germany, which has signed the ban treaty, said it won’t provide the bombs to Ukraine, but expressed understanding for the American position.
Oleksandra Ustinova, a member of Ukraine’s parliament who has been advocating that Washington send more weapons, noted that Ukrainian forces have had to disable mines from much of the territory they are winning back from Russia. As part of that process, Ukrainians will also be able to catch any unexploded ordnance from cluster munitions.