U.S. Confirms Decision To Provide Cluster Munitions To Ukraine

The United States will provide cluster munitions to Ukraine to fulfill Kyiv's request to obtain the weapons for use only in defense of its territory, U.S. national-security adviser Jake Sullivan said on July 7.

Sullivan told reporters at the White House that sending thousands of cluster munitions to Ukraine is the right decision for the United States as Kyiv seeks to push ahead with its counteroffensive against Russia's invasion.

President Joe Biden approved the proposal to send the munitions as part of the next package of military aid after unanimous recommendation from his advisers, Sullivan said.

Cluster munitions are bombs that open in the air and release scores of smaller bomblets, many of which do not explode.

They are controversial because the unexploded bomblets left on battlefields and in populated areas put civilians who encounter them at risk long after wars end.

Kyiv has promised to use the munitions carefully, Sullivan said, adding that the U.S. will send a version of the munition that has a reduced “dud rate,” meaning fewer of the bomblets fail to explode.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions, an international treaty signed in 2008, prohibits all use, production, transfer, and stockpiling of cluster munitions.

The agreement, which entered into force in 2010, has been implemented in 123 states, but not by the United States, Ukraine, or Russia.