US sends cluster munitions to Ukraine, sparking controversy

You U.S are sending cluster munitions to the Ukraine to meet the country’s requests. The decision, which has been criticized by human rights groups and European leaders, is controversial, as weapons are banned in more than 100 countries.

Cluster munitions are small rocket, missile or artillery design bombs made for wide areas in mid-flight, i.e. they are supposed to explode when in contact with the ground, but a proportion of them can be “failure”, mainly in contact with moist and soft solid.

the bombs clusters has a failure rate which can be as high as 40%, which means that large numbers of them can remain in the ground for years and detonate in civilians later. The great risk of this type of weapon is precisely in these cases, since the bombs can explode later when stepped on, for example, mutilating possible victims. From a military point of view, its effectiveness is greatest when used on ground troops in the trench model.

^{US President Joe Biden at a press conference. (Photo: Reproduction/REUTERS/Leah Millis)}

This is because, when well disposed, they make areas more dangerous for movement, weakening the enemy side until they are carefully removed. Despite Banned in countries including the UK, Germany and France, cluster bombs have been used in both Russia and Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022.

Both countries, in addition to the US, are not within the treaty banning this type of ammunition. Current US President Joe Biden said in a press conference on the subject that the decision was difficult, he says that “It took a while to get convinced to do it.”

Despite the indecision, Biden claimed that his position was motivated by Ukraine’s lack of ammunition during that moment. Largely because there is a high use of artillery shells and Ukraine’s western allies are unable to replenish quickly enough.

The president’s action circumvents US law that prohibits the transfer and production of cluster munitions with a failure rate greater than 1%. Projections for the future are possible disagreements between the United States and Western allies during the War.

Featured photo: Soldier holds deactivated cluster bomb. Reproduction: The Associated Press