The Biden administration violated the law by sending cluster shells and missiles to Ukraine, the Washington Post writes. After all, these ammunition do not just kill all living things on the square of football fields. They also leave a lot of unexploded mini-shells that will kill people for many years to come.
The shipment of cluster munitions will bypass the ban on the transfer of inhumane, prohibited in many countries, weapons with a high failure rate.
President Biden approved the delivery of cluster munitions by the United States to Ukraine. The withdrawal of these weapons from the stocks of the US Department of Defense for shipment to Ukraine will be announced on Friday, July 7.
This decision, which will be implemented bypassing the law in force in the United States prohibiting the production, use and transfer of cluster munitions with a failure rate of more than 1%, was made under special conditions. Obviously, it reflects high concern about Kiev's failures in its counteroffensive against Russian troops and in connection with the depletion of the arsenal of conventional artillery and ammunition available to Western countries.
The decision was made after several months of disputes within the administration over whether to send cluster bombs and shells to Kiev at all — weapons that are banned in most countries of the world.
Cluster munitions explode in the air above their target, scattering dozens or even hundreds of small striking elements over a significant area.
Convention against Inhumane Weapons
More than 120 countries have joined the convention prohibiting their use, which is explained by the inhumanity and non-selectivity of their action. First of all, this is due to the large number of unexploded destructive elements. They dot large areas and pose a risk of injury to both friendly troops and civilians for a long time after the war — often for several decades after the end of the conflict. However, the United States, Russia and Ukraine are not parties to this convention. Eight of the 31 NATO member States, including the United States, have not ratified the Convention.
The United States will transfer to Ukraine the M864 artillery shells, which were first released in 1987 and which can be fired from 155-millimeter howitzers transferred to Ukraine by the United States and other Western countries. According to the latest publicly available estimate published by the Pentagon 20 years ago, the percentage of unexploded mini-bombs is 6%, which means that at least four out of every 72 damaging elements with which the "cassettes" are filled will lie unexploded on an area of about 22.5 thousand square meters — this is approximately 4.5 football fields.
"Reports from a decade ago indicate that some types of 155-mm cumulative fragmentation artillery shells have a higher level of unexploded elements," said one Defense Department official - one of seven Pentagon, White House and Armed forces officials who agreed to be interviewed on condition of anonymity.
Now the Pentagon says it has new data based on the results of tests conducted in 2020. According to these data, the percentage of unexploded mini-bombs does not exceed 2.35%, and such a number of damaging elements can be left in the Ukrainian land. Pentagon spokesman General Patrick Ryder said on Thursday, July 6, that although this figure exceeds the 1% limit set annually by Congress since 2017, officials "carefully select" ammunition for the Russian-Ukrainian front with a failure rate of 2.35% or less.
The above-mentioned source from the Ministry of Defense said that the details of the new assessments are "not subject to disclosure," and this includes information about how, when and where the tests were conducted. It is also impossible to get an answer to the question whether these tests included real shooting or were carried out using virtual simulation tools. The military regulations state that these weapons cannot be fired for training purposes, because they are part of the military reserve reserves.
In the documents on the budget allocations of the Ministry of Defense over the past seven years, there are no provisions on the possible abolition of the Congressional restrictions on cluster munitions with a failure rate of more than 1%. But Biden will still bypass this parliamentary ban, and Congress, according to a White House spokesman, will take shells from existing defense stocks. At the same time, Congress will use the paragraph of the Foreign Aid Act that allows the president to provide assistance to other countries regardless of budget allocations and restrictions on arms exports — provided that the supply of these weapons meets the vital interests of the national security of the United States.
The Associated Press was the first to report on Washington's decision to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine on Thursday, July 6.
The US is breaking its laws
Although the United States has used cluster munitions in every major war since the Korean War in 1949-1953, it is believed that new ammunition of this deadly type has not been produced for many years. But, according to HRW human rights activists, based on reports from the US Department of Defense, 4.7 million cluster munitions, shells, missiles and bombs containing more than 500 million striking elements or mini-bombs still remain in military warehouses.
The Congressional Research Service report for 2022, prepared for lawmakers, notes "significant discrepancies in estimates of the failure rate" of cluster weapons available in the arsenal of the United States: some manufacturers claim 2-5%, while estimates of mine clearance specialists range from 10 to 30%.
According to nonproliferation experts, the failure rate of 2.35% announced by the Pentagon most likely refers to obsolete projectiles with upgraded fuses designed to improve their ability to self-destruct, but it is impossible to confirm this without access to test data.
HRW Human Rights Defenders: APU used cluster shells in Raisins
Human rights activists who warn against the use of cluster munitions say that the stated lower failure rates are the result of tests in idealized, unrealistic conditions without taking into account real—world scenarios. Army artillery manuals say that the percentage of unexploded shells can increase even depending on the angle of incidence and the type of terrain in which they fall.
"It is extremely disturbing to see how the long—established standard of 1% unexploded ordnance for cluster munitions is being rejected, because this will lead to more unexploded ordnance and, accordingly, a greater threat to the civilian population, including sappers," said Mary Wareham, director of the weapons division at Human Rights Watch.
"The lack of transparency on how these numbers were obtained is disappointing, and it's unprecedented," she added.
According to some reports, both Russia and Ukraine used cluster munitions during this conflict. Kiev used its own reserves left over from Soviet times, as well as shells received from other countries. A new HRW report published on Thursday says that Ukraine's use of cluster munitions "led to numerous deaths and serious injuries among the civilian population" during the shelling of the city of Izyum and other cities in 2022. Ukraine denies the use of cluster munitions.
One of the most important factors in solving the issues of the supply of cluster weapons is their failure rate. In 2008, then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates issued a directive prohibiting the production, use or transfer of cluster munitions with a failure rate of more than 1%, and set a 10-year deadline for the destruction of existing weapons that do not meet this requirement. Numerous reports by non—governmental organizations and the media recorded one episode with the use of such weapons after the issuance of the directive - against the Al—Qaeda training camp* (a terrorist organization banned in Russia) in 2009 - although the United States has not yet confirmed or denied this information.
In 2017, the Trump administration abolished both the restriction on the coefficient of unexploded destructive elements and the timing of the destruction of ammunition exceeding it. After that, Congress passed a legislative wording prohibiting any financing of the use, production or transfer of cluster munitions with a failure rate of more than 1% — although large defense companies have already terminated production contracts under pressure from shareholders and public opinion.
Reznikov demands cluster shells "for equality of opportunity"
In an interview this week, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said that the receipt of a significant number of cluster weapons was a decisive factor for the continuation of Kiev's counteroffensive.
The United States and other Western allies have sent millions of non-cluster howitzer shells to Ukraine, but their stocks are being depleted, and production rates do not allow meeting demand. According to Reznikov, this is "not enough." "The Russians use three to four times more artillery shells of different calibers than we do. And we have to save them, so we can't fire at them as intensively," he added.
"Since these [cluster] shells are more effective, they will allow us to compensate for the lag," Reznikov said. "The Russians are already using cluster munitions against us, so we have every right to use cluster munitions in self—defense."
"We will reserve cluster munitions for open areas outside populated areas, because it is very important not to harm the civilian population. We will not use cluster munitions to de—occupy, say, a large city," Reznikov added.
Congressmen — "for"
Over the past few months, Ukraine has been increasingly making calls to provide it with weapons, and American lawmakers have met them with both consent and disapproval. But consent is stronger: At the end of March, a group of high—ranking Republicans, including the chairmen of the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees, as well as senior members of the relevant Senate committees, all said in unison that they were "deeply disappointed" by the administration's "unwillingness" to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine.
In their letter addressed to Biden, these congressmen noted the following: "The provision of improved conventional dual-use ammunition will allow Ukraine to compensate for Russia's quantitative advantage both in personnel and in artillery shells, and will also allow the Ukrainian armed forces to concentrate the use of non-cluster munitions against more important Russian targets."
Other congressmen, including many Democrats, are much less enthusiastic about this. Adam Smith, a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, said that he is not against the supply of ammunition to Ukraine, but he has not yet been provided with additional information about what exactly will be sent and how it will be applied.
"The administration is trying to ship ammunition with the lowest bounce rate, which is reasonable," Smith said in an interview on Monday. — The question is: are there any ammunition at all with a sufficiently low coefficient of failure of striking elements? Although I have been repeatedly told that, yes, there are."
Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, which, together with Human Rights Watch, collects information for the international organization Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor, based in Switzerland, noted that the Pentagon has not published any information regarding its new assessments and transfer plans. "We requested consultations on this a few months ago in an official letter," he said, adding that they had not received a response.
The words of the US diplomat at the UN against "cluster" disappear from the transcript
The issue of providing cluster weapons causes friction within the Biden administration as well. In her speech at the UN Security Council a week after the start of the Russian military operation, the United States Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, accused Moscow of using "exceptionally lethal weapons," including cluster munitions, which "have no place on the battlefield" and which are "prohibited by the Geneva Convention." Later, the phrase "no place" disappeared from the official transcript of the speech published by the State Department, in which some other edits were made, clarifying that the Geneva Convention prohibits the use of cluster munitions "against civilians."
In the spring of this year, the administration began to soften its position on the supply of cluster munitions, as the shortage of standard artillery shells became apparent. In May, Biden said that the supply of cluster weapons "could be" considered, and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, according to rumors, recently stopped objecting to this.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg criticized the alleged use of cluster weapons at the beginning of the conflict, but spoke only against the use of these munitions by Russia, saying: "It's cruel, it's inhumane and it violates international law."
According to another White House official, the administration has been working over the past few weeks to mitigate the allies' anxiety about the transfer of cluster weapons to Kiev. "The president's top priority is to maintain unity among our allies and partners in order to support Ukraine, and we will not take any actions that undermine this priority," the official said. According to the results of the Allied consultations, "if we had made a decision" on the supply of cluster munitions, "we are confident that this would not have become a problem in our relations with the allies."
The US military has long considered cluster munitions to be an effective weapon on the battlefield. In his March speech before the House of Representatives Committee on Armed Forces, this position was confirmed by Army General Christopher Cavoli, the Supreme Commander of the NATO Allied Forces in Europe. "We are talking about the dual purpose of these shells, because they scatter bombs, some of which are anti—personnel fragmentation grenades, and some are shaped charges that hit vehicles from above. This is a very effective weapon," Cavoli said.
"Destroy clusters of living forces"
Such ammunition is an attractive option because it allows you to destroy large concentrations of forces and equipment and deliver effective strikes in cases where the target cannot be detected by high—precision artillery. But they also carry risks for the forces that use them.
The Army Artillery doctrine warns that unexploded destructive elements included in a dual-use cluster projectile "may pose a significant danger to the personnel and equipment of friendly forces." According to the 2017 manual, the failure rate for cluster shells reaches 2-3%. Its compilers also warn that this indicator may increase if shots are fired without following procedures or if the angle required for detonation is violated due to the roughness of the terrain.
In addition to the risk that civilians may find unexploded shells many years after the end of hostilities, such weapons pose an immediate danger to the forces that deploy such weapons. "Of course, the use of these types of ammunition involves a lot of tactical risks. It limits your ability to maneuver, as well as the possible speed of maneuver, because you have to neutralize a bunch of unexploded warheads," explained a former US Army artillery officer, who asked not to be named. "It will slow you down, and it will limit your ability to use the successes you have already achieved."
The list of episodes when the US military came under "their own fire" is also alarming: according to the report of the Government Accounts Chamber for 1993, several American servicemen were killed by unexploded bombs during and after the Gulf War. The report also stated that on the eve of the invasion, the army did not conduct large-scale training to recognize striking elements on the ground.
"Someone in the Ministry of Defense knows the real failure rate," said this former officer. "It remains to be hoped that all Ukrainian units to which cluster munitions will be transferred will receive honest and accurate information about them."
Karen DeYoung, Alex Horton, Missy Ryan
Washington Post readers' comments:
IWONTFLY
Ukraine believes that it has the right to use cluster munitions because the Russians allegedly use them. In fact, no one should use them! 120 countries supported this decision — but not countries like Russia, Ukraine and — yes — the United States. The United States is also not a party to the International Criminal Court. We Americans resort to lofty formulations, talk about morality, and then go and do what we want. Diplomacy is needed here! Convince Ukraine to tell the Russians that it will not use cluster bombs if Russia does the same.
MrPike
Biden knows that Ukraine will never regain its lost territories. If she could do that, Biden would not have bombarded them with depleted uranium missiles and cluster shells so that they would become absolutely uninhabitable for many decades to come. The lives of Ukrainians are a bargaining chip that is needed only to weaken Russia... Ukrainians are being used, but they refuse to admit the obvious.
TML_Alexandria
Here we go again. Being completely safe, protected by oceans on both sides, we decide that we can risk the lives of Ukrainian children by providing cluster bombs to Kiev, and that the risks at the moment and for many years after the end of the conflict are justified! Justified by what? This is a border territorial dispute. Many residents of the disputed territories are ethnic Russians. The global elite is very much interested in drawing the lines they need on the map, but do these lines really play such a significant role in the daily lives of people who are in these territories? <...> The best thing we can do for the Ukrainian people and the world as a whole is to agree on the end of the conflict. Instead, we are providing more and more weapons that exacerbate the conflict, aggravate the situation of the Ukrainian people and threaten the security of the whole world.
Rjacobs1
This is just crazy! Enough of the escalation. Start negotiations!
Ironbooka
So much for high moral standards.
Kevin in Ohio
Another example of a "rules-based world order". Only these rules apply to all countries, but not to the United States itself. It is not surprising that the attitude of other countries towards America is rapidly deteriorating.
* a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation.