The UN is planning a meeting with the parties to the Black Sea Grain Agreement in Istanbul

Cluster munitions are air bombs, artillery shells or rockets that contain several hundred small ones instead of one large explosive shell. They can be launched from the sky, land or sea.

After firing, this ammunition decelerates at a certain point and disintegrates in the air, releasing numerous explosive “bombs” or submunitions that fall over a large area. In this way, one bomb can destroy many targets.

For the most part, these munitions are free-falling, that is, they are not directed to a specific target.

On Thursday, July 6, the Pentagon confirmed that they are considering providing Ukraine with cluster munitions.

“The provision of cluster munitions (DPICMs – the original) is currently being considered. … These munitions add anti-tank and anti-personnel capabilities on the battlefield. They may contain armor-piercing charges or anti-personnel fragmentation charges,” Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said.

According to the media, cluster munitions may be included in the new package of aid to Ukraine from the United States, which the Presidential Administration plans to announce in the near future.

The need of Ukraine

Ukraine asked allies for cluster bombs to support the current counteroffensive. Kyiv assures that these munitions will help the Armed Forces target the fortified positions of the Russians, in particular, the trenches, and also compensate for the lack of manpower and artillery.

According to CNN, the use of American cluster munitions will help Ukraine destroy more targets with fewer shells, which will reduce tensions due to the lack of 155-mm ammunition for artillery.

According to the US Army website eArmor, the cluster bombs that the US is to deliver to Ukraine are fired from 155mm howitzers, each canister containing 88 bombs. Each bomb has a lethal range of about 10 square meters, so one canister can cover an area of ​​up to 30,000 square meters, depending on the height from which the bombs are released.

The article also says that it takes 10 or more such bombs to destroy an armored vehicle, but only one bomb is enough to disable the armored vehicle’s weapons or stop it from moving.

Earlier, the mass media in Ukraine reported that Kyiv is also asking the US for submunitions for the Mk-20 Rockeye II cluster bombs, which the Ukrainian Armed Forces plan to use to equip drones.

Since 2011, the US has had a law prohibiting the export or donation of cluster bombs with a submunition failure rate of more than 1%. According to Washington Post sources, the US is likely to transfer M864 cluster artillery shells to Ukraine, which have been manufactured since 1987 and whose failure rate 20 years ago was 6%. WP writes that the Pentagon assures that their tests in 2020 showed a failure rate of submunitions no higher than 2.35%.

WP and CNN report that the US president has the authority to override this ban.

Use in Ukraine

According to the UN, since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Russian troops have repeatedly used cluster munitions.

With reference to the data of the report on the global use of cluster munitions in 2022, the UN reports that the Armed Forces have also used cluster munitions several times.

The executive director of the American branch of the Humanity & Inclusion organization also stated in the report that cluster munitions in Ukraine “damaged medical facilities, factories and homes.”

CNN also reports that Ukrainian forces recently began using cluster munitions provided by Turkey on the battlefield.

Why are cluster munitions criticized?

Cluster munitions are often criticized for causing high civilian casualties or injuries. Like anti-personnel mines, they remain dangerous long after their use.

Unexploded ordnance from cluster bombs can remain in the ground for several months or even years, endangering the civilian population, especially children. They can kill and maim people years or even decades after the munitions have been released.

Anti-cluster munitions activists say unexploded cluster munition bombs are still being found in countries like Laos and Vietnam, 50 years after cluster bombs were used in the war there.

According to the International Red Cross Organization, during some wars in recent years, up to 40% of shells from these bombs did not explode. In general, from 10 to 40 percent of subshells do not explode.

Gilles Carbonnier, vice president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, stated in 2022: “Cluster ammunition remains one of the most insidious weapons in the world. They kill and maim indiscriminately and cause massive human suffering.”

According to Human Rights Watch, the bloodiest cluster munition attack in Ukraine was the attack on Kramatorsk last April. At that time, a Point-U ballistic missile loaded with cluster munitions killed 58 people and injured more than a hundred people.

HRW urges the US not to transfer these munitions to Ukraine, and also appealed to Ukraine and Russia to stop using such projectiles on the battlefield.

Monitor editor Lauren Percy stated in 2021 that children are the most affected by the remnants of these weapons: “Nearly half of all victims, 44%, are children. About a quarter of victims are women and girls. But as recently as 2020, we found that women and girls were significantly less likely to survive a cluster munition incident. This is a concern, and we will have to look at this as more data becomes available.”

More than 110 countries have ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), adopted in 2008, which prohibits the production, use or transfer of cluster munitions.