Pak Sahafat – A group of American legislators are asking the Biden administration to send cluster munitions to Ukraine in order to break the strong lines of Russia, the use of which has been banned by many countries due to serious human rights concerns.
According to Pak Sahafat News Agency from Foreign Policy magazine, a group of American lawmakers from both the Democratic and Republican parties are looking for Ukraine to use a prohibited tool to remove Russian forces from its territory.
In a letter to President Joe Biden, Republican representatives Joe Wilson and Victoria Sparts and Democratic Representative Steve Cohen urged Ukraine to send dual-purpose improved conventional ammunition (DPICM) – missile warheads or cannons with a cluster explosion design – to Ukraine.
Cluster bombs, which are banned in more than 120 countries under the Convention on Cluster Munitions, release a large number of smaller bombs over a wide area when they explode. These smaller bombs threaten the lives of more citizens if they explode, and if they don’t explode, they act as mines and can cause life and disability risks for civilians.
The issue of whether or not to send this type of ammunition is actually part of a wider discussion about the speed and volume of providing modern and advanced weapons to Ukraine. The issue being discussed in Washington is whether these weapons will be provided to the Ukrainians at the speed and in sufficient numbers to confront Russia.
Since the beginning of the war, the Biden government has sent all kinds of weapons and ammunition worth more than 40 billion dollars to Ukraine. The process of providing this military equipment to Kiev has changed over time and has gone from lighter ammunition and equipment to heavier weapons, including battle tanks.
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While providing battle tanks to Kiev was considered a taboo for the West until the last 6 months, now the discussion is about providing cluster bombs and F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
In the fall of 2022, this publication also announced the sending of American-designed cluster munitions to Ukraine by Turkey. But the US arsenal is much wider; American lawmakers believe that the country’s stockpile of cluster munitions is about 3 million, which 155 mm howitzers are capable of firing.
The Biden administration also sent howitzers to Ukraine last year.
Foreign Policy says: According to reports, Ukrainians have previously used cluster munitions in an attempt to retake the eastern territory of Donbass. Despite all the life-threatening dangers that these munitions pose to civilians and even children – the brilliance of these bombs and their appearance attract the attention of children – US lawmakers point to these threats and claim that Ukraine has so far used American weapons responsibly.
Experts in favor of providing these ammunitions to Ukraine believe that by using cluster munitions, Kiev will destroy more Russian forces in the first place, and by compensating for the lack of Ukrainian ammunition reserves, it can help Kiev in managing its reserves.
But opponents of this issue believe that sending cluster munitions to Ukraine ignores the principles of international arms control, including the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which was created to prevent the global spread of these bombs. Although neither Russia, nor Ukraine, nor the United States have yet joined this convention, which came into effect in 2010.
Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions (DPICM) scatter up to 88 smaller bombs at the site of the explosion, which, if the blast area is not cleared of unexploded ordnance, will threaten the lives of civilians long after the end of the conflict.