Joe Biden has been condemned by human rights groups after he approved sending widely banned cluster munitions to Ukraine, with one fellow Democrat branding the decision “unnecessary and a terrible mistake”.
Cluster munitions are prohibited by more than 100 countries. They typically scatter numerous smaller bomblets over a wide area, sometimes as big as a football pitch, and can kill indiscriminately. Those that fail to explode threaten civilians, especially children, for decades after a conflict ends.
01:19US decision to send cluster munitions ‘unanimous’, says US national security advisor – video
But there is concern in Washington and other western capitals at the slow progress of Ukraine’s summer counteroffensive, as the war approaches its 500th day on Saturday. Ukrainian commanders say their dug-in Russian opponents have superiority in artillery and heavy tanks, limiting the ability of their troops to advance.
On Friday, the Pentagon announced a new $800m military aid package to Ukraine that includes cluster munitions. Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, told reporters at the White House: “We recognise that cluster munitions create a risk of civilian harm from unexploded ordnance.
“This is why we deferred the decision for as long as we could. But there is also a massive risk of civilian harm if Russian troops and tanks roll over Ukrainian positions and take more Ukrainian territory and subjugate more Ukrainian civilians because Ukraine does not have enough artillery.”
He added: “That is intolerable to us. Ukraine would not be using these munitions in some foreign land. This is their country they’re defending. These are their citizens they’re protecting and they are motivated to use any weapon system they have in a way that minimises risks to those citizens.”
The timing is complicated for Biden, who travels to Europe for a Nato meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania, next week. Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato secretary general, stressed on Friday that the military alliance takes no position on cluster munitions. “So it is for these individual allies then to make those decisions,” he told reporters in Brussels.
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But human rights organisations sharply criticised the president’s decision, noting that at least 149 civilians were killed or injured worldwide by the weapon in 2021, according to the Cluster Munition Monitor.
Most US allies – including Britain, Germany and France – signed on to the UN’s Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2008. America, Russia and Ukraine never signed the treaty, insisting that there are circumstances in which use of the weapons is necessary.
Paul Hannon, vice-chair of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Munition Coalition Governance Board, said: “The Biden administration’s decision to transfer cluster munitions will contribute to the terrible casualties being suffered by…
2023-07-07 14:58:40
Post from www.theguardian.com
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