The United States has taken a further step in the war in Ukraine. On Friday, Washington announced that it was going to deliver cluster munitions to kyiv, which kill indiscriminately and are banned in many countries, particularly in Europe, a decision denounced by several NGOs.
“It was a very difficult decision for me,” President Joe Biden told CNN, adding that he had discussed it beforehand with the allied countries and the American Congress. “It took me a long time to be convinced to do it,” said the American president, justifying his decision by the fact that Ukraine was “out of ammunition”.
This decision comes at a time when kyiv is engaged in a vast counter-offensive against Russian forces, which is progressing slowly, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. But Washington believes that this delivery represents “the right thing to do” in view of developments on the ground, overcoming the reluctance in the United States and abroad on the use of such very controversial weapons.
American contortions
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan claimed President Biden made the decision after a “unanimous recommendation” from his administration. He also assured that the Ukrainians had provided “written” guarantees on the use they would make of these weapons to minimize “the risks posed to civilians”.
The United States announced $800 million in new military aid to Ukraine on Friday, bringing its assistance to more than $41 billion since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February. 2022.
These so-called cluster munitions disperse or release small explosive charges designed to explode before, on, or after impact. Depending on the type of weapon used, the number of scattered submunitions can range from a few dozen to over 600.
Many countries have banned its use and production under the 2008 Oslo Convention, of which neither the United States nor Ukraine are parties. Sullivan justified himself at length on this decision, denounced by NGOs, arguing that “artillery is at the heart of this conflict” and that Russia had been using this type of weapon since the start of the war.
There is a “massive risk to civilians if Russian troops and tanks storm into Ukrainian positions and take back more territory because Ukraine doesn’t have enough artillery” to defend itself, he said. he says.
According to the Pentagon, these new dual-purpose weapons are capable of being used both to penetrate armor and against ground troops and will be “clearly useful for all types of offensive operations”. The Americans intend to provide newer models with low “failure rates”, unlike the Russians, the same source said.
European embarrassment
On the European side, Washington’s announcement is causing some embarrassment. In Berlin, the spokesman for the German government, Steffen Hebestreit, said on Friday “certain that our American friends did not take the decision to deliver the ammunition in question lightly”.
Same story in Paris where the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recalled that France would respect its commitments made under the Oslo Convention. But “we understand the arbitration that the United States has reached in its desire to help Ukraine in the exercise of its self-defense against the illegal aggression unleashed by Russia,” said the Quai d’Orsay. .
For his part, the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, noted that Russia and Ukraine use these weapons but that Moscow uses them “in its brutal war against Ukraine while Ukraine is use it to defend themselves.
The fact remains that beyond the motivations of each, the presence of these weapons risks posing a long-term danger, in particular because of the unexploded charges, provoking the anger of NGOs.
Human Rights Watch believes that this decision “will inevitably cause long-term suffering and undermine international efforts to eradicate their use”. The Biden administration “must understand that any decision to allow increased use of these cluster munitions in this war will have one clear consequence: more civilian deaths,” Amnesty International warned.