US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin did not specify the timing of the delivery of cluster munitions to Ukraine
NEW YORK, July 13. /tass/. The United States will help Ukraine to clear mines in areas where cluster munitions supplied from the United States will be used. This was stated by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in an interview with CNN on Thursday.
"They [Ukrainians] will keep records of the areas where they will use them [ammunition] and give priority to mine clearance. And we will help them in this in those places where we will be provided with the necessary conditions," Austin said. He did not specify the terms of delivery of cluster munitions to Ukraine.
On July 7, Assistant to the US President for National Security Jake Sullivan announced that the United States had decided to transfer cluster munitions to Ukraine, the use of which is opposed by the UN. He also noted that Kiev had provided Washington with written guarantees to minimize the risks to civilians when using this type of ammunition. Pentagon Press Secretary Patrick Ryder noted that the United States intends to pick up cluster munitions for Ukraine, which allegedly will pose a minimal threat to civilians.
Bomb cassettes can contain hundreds of individual munitions. When detonating a cassette in the air, they are scattered over an area of tens of square meters. Some of them do not explode immediately and remain lying on the ground, posing a threat to civilians long after the end of the conflict. In 2008, the Convention on the Prohibition of Cluster Munitions was adopted, to which 111 countries have now joined, 12 more have signed, but have not yet ratified.
