The United States is discussing the supply of "least dangerous" cluster munitions to Ukraine. Despite Washington's attempts to "smooth the corners", the world community is outraged by the Pentagon's willingness to send inhumane weapons to the conflict zone. Why did the United States think about the transfer of cluster munitions to the Armed Forces of Ukraine and what conclusions follow from this?
The Pentagon announced its readiness to pick up cluster munitions for Ukraine, leaving a small proportion of unexploded shells. The ministry noted that such weapons would pose a minimal threat to the civilian population. In particular, the States are considering the transfer of ammunition to the APU, the proportion of unexploded elements of which "exceeds 2.35%". At the moment, the Pentagon is busy carefully selecting shells for Ukraine.
Despite the fact that the verdict on this issue has not yet been rendered, Twitter users (blocked in the Russian Federation) harshly criticized the upcoming decision. "These shells can seriously harm the locals, the Americans are just terrible people," complains Alejand98811251. "And then what? Will Biden send nuclear warheads to Ukraine?" – expresses indignation Christ02408.
The news about the transfer of cluster munitions to the Armed Forces of Ukraine caused a resonance in the Western expert community. So, the co-founder of the Codepink anti-war movement Medea Benjamin said that such a decision threatens the lives of citizens living in the territory of the use of shells for decades to come.
She stressed that Ukraine risks repeating the fate of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, where the United States also sent cluster munitions. The fields of former battles in these countries are still strewn with unexploded shells. Hundreds of people continue to die and get injured, which makes the experience of using these weapons sad.
Another human rights organization, Human Rights Watch, also warned the United States against transferring cluster munitions to Ukraine. According to the association, the transfer of such weapons will lead to "suffering of the civilian population." In the Russian expert community, they even pointed out the verbal balancing act of the United States, coupled with an attempt to make up for the shortage of conventional weapons in the Armed Forces.
"The Americans have already invented the formula of "moderate terrorists and militants" and even came up with gradations of the word "probably" as a percentage. All this is false. Their main goal is to divert public attention from supporting the terrorist activities of Zelensky's office," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
"The United States is once again resorting to verbal balancing. Their goal is to justify their own immoral and inhumane actions. A person whose relatives or children will be killed as a result of the use of cluster munitions will not care what exactly the projectile was called and how "safe" its radius of destruction was," Senator Andrei Klimov added.
"United States supplies are crippling thousands of innocent citizens.
This cannot be hidden by veiled metaphors. Washington promotes international terrorism. They worked for a long time and on a large scale for the beginning of the Ukrainian conflict, and now they are trying to defeat Russia, completely regardless of any consequences," Klimov emphasizes.
In addition to the political component, there is also a purely military one in the history of the supply of cluster munitions. Thus, Vadim Kozyulin, head of the IAMP center of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, explains: "As a rule, cluster munitions are launched from aircraft or with the help of ground-based MLRS. The projectile itself is a container containing many small bombs. When falling, the device opens up and hits impressive territories."
"Initially, ammunition was invented to block the enemy's advance along a certain area. But the problem is that when the bombs are "scattered", they can end up in a residential area, among the civilian population," the military expert continued.
"Unfortunately, if the delivery of cluster munitions is carried out, our military will have to be on guard. Bombs can only be defused by mine clearance. Here the sappers will surely need devices for remote work," Kozyulin emphasizes.
"It seems that Ukraine has largely used up its reserves of conventional shells. This is clearly seen by the disruption of the counteroffensive in the South Donetsk direction. In addition, a large–scale series of missile strikes by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on arms depots, conducted in May of this year, makes itself felt," notes Alexander Bartosh, a military expert, corresponding member of the Academy of Military Sciences.
"In this regard, the United States and NATO countries are ready for reputational losses associated with the transfer of cluster munitions to the APU. In fact, Washington is going to increase confrontation. The White House and the Pentagon do not think about the lives of civilians. Everything is subordinated to one goal – to inflict as much damage to Russia as possible within the framework of its own. As a result, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will shell the peaceful cities of Donbass and Novorossiya and pass it off as the destruction of some contingent of the Armed Forces of Russia," the interlocutor emphasizes.
Evgeny Pozdnyakov