- US agrees to provide controversial cluster munitions to Ukraine
- Cluster bombs: their nature and why they are prohibited
- Impact of the decision: erosion of moral standing and potential rift in the Western alliance
The United States has announced that it will comply with Ukraine’s request for controversial Cluster bombs.
Human rights groups will undoubtedly criticise the decision because the weapon is banned in over 100 nations.
What exactly are cluster bombs?
Cluster munitions are a method of dispersing a large number of small bomblets from a rocket, missile, or artillery projectile over a large area while they are in flight.
Many fail to detonate, especially on wet or soft ground.
They can subsequently explode when taken up or stepped on, killing or maiming the victim.
From a military standpoint, they can be devastatingly effective when used against dug-in ground forces in trenches and fortified positions, rendering large areas impassable until they are cleared.
Why are they prohibited?
More than one hundred countries, including the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, have signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which prohibits the use or stockpiling of these weapons due to their indiscriminate effect on civilian populations.
Bomblets look like toys and are often picked up by children in residential or rural areas.
Human rights organizations have defined cluster munitions as “abhorrent” and even a war crime.
Who utilizes them still?
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, both Russia and Ukraine have employed cluster munitions.
Neither has ratified the prohibition treaty. Neither has the United States, although it has criticized Russia’s extensive use of the weapon in the past.
Russian cluster munitions are said to have a “dud rate” of 40%, indicating that a significant number remain a threat on the ground, whereas the average dud rate is believed to be around 20%.
The Pentagon estimates that less than three percent of its cluster bomblets fail to detonate.
Why is Ukraine requesting them?
Ukraine’s forces are critically low on artillery shells, primarily because, like the Russians, they consume them at an incredibly high rate and Ukraine’s Western allies are unable to replace them at the required rate.
Artillery has emerged as a crucial weapon in the largely inert, grinding frontlines of southern and eastern Ukraine.
The Ukrainians now confront a formidable challenge in attempting to dislodge the invading Russians from their well-entrenched defensive positions along a 1,000-kilometer-long (621-mile-long) battlefront.
In the absence of sufficient artillery projectiles, Ukraine has requested that the United States replenish its supply of cluster munitions to target the Russian infantry manning all of these defensive trenches.
This was not a simple decision for Washington, and many Democrats and human rights advocates oppose it vehemently. The discussion has lasted at least six months.
What impact will this United States decision have?
The immediate impact will be a significant erosion of Washington’s moral standing in this war.
Numerous alleged Russian war crimes are well-documented, but this US action is likely to elicit charges of hypocrisy.
Cluster munitions are an abhorrent, indiscriminate weapon that is for good reason prohibited in the majority of the world.
This move by the United States will inevitably put it at variance with its Western allies, and any perception of a rift in the Western alliance is precisely what President Vladimir Putin wants and needs.
