#Title

SENDING CLUSTER BOMBS TO UKRAINE

Aid groups furious, Biden defends move
Russia says decision shows ‘weakness’; Ukraine vows selective use
AGENCIES
Humanitarian organisations on Friday condemned plans by the United States to supply controversial cluster munitions to Ukraine, citing the long-lasting danger posed by the weapons which leave behind unexploded bomblets.
“This is a death sentence to civilians over the long term. There are people who have not yet been born who will fall victim” to cluster bombs, said Baptiste Chapuis of Handicap International -- Humanity and Inclusion (HI).
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden has defended the decision. Biden described the decision as difficult but said Ukraine needed them, reports Reuters.
“Ukraine has provided written assurances that it is going to use these in a very careful way” to minimize risks to civilians, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.
Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov welcomed the US decision saying it would help to de-occupy the Ukrainian territory but vowed that the munitions would be not used in Russia.
“Our position is simple - we need to liberate our temporarily occupied territories and save the lives of our people,” Reznikov wrote on Twitter.
“Ukraine will use these munitions only for the de-occupation of our internationally recognized territories. These munitions will not be used on the officially recognized territory of Russia.”
Elsewhere, Russia’s foreign ministry said yesterday that Washington’s decision to supply Ukraine with cluster munitions is an “act of desperation”
“It is an act of desperation and shows weakness against the backdrop of the failure of the much-touted Ukrainian counteroffensive,” ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.
Days ahead of a NATO summit in Lithuanian capital Vilnius next week, the American move comes as allies cast around for further assistance to offer Kyiv as its counter-offensive against Russian invaders has been slow to make major advances.
When they detonate, cluster bombs spread dozens of tiny bomblets over an area the size of several football pitches, with a large number burying themselves in the ground rather than exploding.
The weapons therefore effectively leave a large field of antipersonnel mines in their wake -- prompting a wave of condemnations even before the American delivery was confirmed.
“The USA’s plan to transfer cluster munitions to Ukraine is a retrograde step, which undermines the considerable advances made by the international community in its attempts to protect civilians from such dangers,” Amnesty International researcher Patrick Wilcken said in a statement, saying the aid group “urges the USA to reconsider”.
In military terms, cluster bombs allow a belligerent to strike a large enemy formation at a single blow, to deny the use of an airfield’s runway or halt an enemy’s advance with widespread mines.
But they make no distinction between civilians and military personnel, with experts suggesting between five and 40 percent of bomblets do not explode on impact, remaining present on the battlefield for decades.
Beyond the immediate physical danger posed to civilians, “there is also the question of physical access to affected areas for humanitarian organisations,” HI’s Chapuis told AFP.
The bombs’ use can “prevent a lifeline reaching affected populations,” he said.
In total, 123 countries have signed the 2008 Oslo Convention banning production, storage, sale and use of cluster munitions.
Major non-signatories include China, Iran, Israel, Russia, Syria, and the United States.
Since their development during World War II, cluster bombs have been used by the US in Iraq and Afghanistan, and by Israel in Lebanon during fighting against Hezbollah in 2006.
“People are still clearing American cluster munitions in Laos” almost 50 years after the war in neighbouring Vietnam ended, Chapuis said.