The controversial bombs often lead to civilian deaths. Is the US crossing an ethical line by sending them to Ukraine?
Despite the objections of lawmakers and some allies, the United States government is providing Ukraine with cluster bombs that the US itself hasn’t used since 2003. The US says it’s a necessary measure to help Ukraine protect itself — but the bombs, which are known to often cause civilian deaths, are banned by more than 100 countries. The Ukrainian government has promised that the weapons will not be used in populated areas, but there are already reports to the contrary. So has the US crossed an ethical line by sending these weapons to Ukraine?
The United States has decided to send cluster munitions to Ukraine, multiple news outlets have reported, despite concerns about the deployment of weapons banned by more than 100 countries.
A weapons package including cluster munitions fired from a 155-millimetre Howitzer cannon is expected to be announced as soon as Friday, three US officials told the Reuters news agency on condition of anonymity. Cluster bombs release large numbers of smaller bomblets across a wide area posing a major threat to civilians both during the war and long afterwards because some of the bomblets will fail to explode.
More than 120 countries have signed the 2008 United Nations Convention on Cluster Munitions to ban their use including some of Ukraine and the US’s key allies such as France and the United Kingdom.
Ukraine, Russia and the US have not signed that treaty although a 2009 law bans the US from exporting cluster munitions with bomblet failure rates above 1 percent, which covers virtually the entire US military stockpile. Biden, however, can override such prohibitions in cases deemed in the interests of US national security.