What are cluster munitions that US is likely to provide Ukraine? Why are they controversial?

The United States is expected to announce Friday (7 July) its plans to send cluster bombs to Ukraine. As per Associated Press (AP), the Biden administration can provide thousands of cluster munitions to Kyiv as part of a new military aid package worth up to $800 million. While the US previously resisted Kyiv’s calls for the controversial weapon, it has now caved to its demands. This changed stance was visible last month when a senior Pentagon official said the US military believes cluster munitions “would be useful, especially against dug-in Russian positions”, reported The Guardian. Both Ukraine and Russia have deployed cluster munitions on the battlefield since the war started last February. As per CNN, Kyiv has recently started using cluster bombs provided by Turkey. What are cluster munitions and why are they controversial? How will these weapons help Ukraine in its war with Russia? We explain. What are cluster bombs? Cluster bombs or cluster munitions are a type of rocket, bomb or missile carrying tens or hundreds of smaller bomblets, also called submunitions. This bomb breaks apart in the air and the bomblets inside spread over the area, exploding closer to or on the ground, says CNN.  According to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), these cluster bombs can be delivered by aircraft, or fired from artillery and missiles. [caption id=“attachment_12839962” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] A Ukrainian soldier holds a defused cluster bomb used by the Russian army. Reuters File Photo[/caption] The US is planning to give dual-purpose improved conventional munitions or DPICMs to Ukraine, as per CNN. The US Army’s eArmor website says that these DPICMs, which the US started phasing out in 2016, are launched from 155mm howitzers with each munition releasing 88 bomblets. Each bomblet has a lethal range of about 10 square metres, and 10 or more bomblets are capable of destroying an armored vehicle, the website added. Why is the weapon controversial? According to the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC), the submunitions often fail to explode and can remain on the ground over the years, “disproportionally” harming civilians. A 2010 report by the ICRC says 10 per cent and 40 per cent of cluster munitions fail to detonate on impact, as per Forbes. Reuters estimates that sixty percent of cluster bomb fatalities are people wounded while engaging in day-to-day activities. As unexploded bomblets can kill and injure people years or even decades after the cluster bomb was dropped, CMC is making efforts to get the weapon banned globally. As many as 123 nations have signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions which bans the use, manufacturing, transfer and stockpiling of the weapons.

However, Russia, Ukraine and the US, along with 71 other countries have refused the join the convention.

While attacking enemy forces or vehicles is not illegal under international law, striking civilians could amount to a war crime, CNN reported citing advocacy group Human Rights Watch. [caption id=“attachment_12840012” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Cluster bombs are controversial as they can harm civilians even years after their use. Reuters File Photo[/caption] Pentagon spokesman US Air Force Brigadier General Patrick Ryder said during a media briefing on Thursday that the Defence Department has “multiple variants” of the cluster munitions and “the ones that we are considering providing would not include older variants with (unexploding) rates that are higher than 2.35 per cent”, reported AP. Which countries have used it? The deployment of these cluster munitions can be traced back to the Second World War. As per Reuters, at least 15 countries have used them since then, including Russia, the US, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Israel, Morocco, the Netherlands and Britain. America has deployed it in several conflicts, including in Vietnam and Afghan wars. As per CMC, the US last used these weapons from 2003 to 2006 in Iraq. The Guardian says Russia has used cluster bombs in populated areas in Ukraine. Human Rights Watch said both Russia and Ukraine had killed civilians with the use of this weapon in the war. “Both countries should stop using these inherently indiscriminate weapons, and no country should supply cluster munitions because of their foreseeable danger to civilians,” the advocacy group said in a statement on Thursday, as per Newsweek. Last year, Gilles Carbonnier, vice president of the ICRC, at a conference on cluster bombs in Switzerland said: “Cluster munitions remain one of the world’s most treacherous weapons. They kill and maim indiscriminately and cause widespread human suffering”. “Any use of cluster munitions, anywhere, by anyone, must be condemned,” Carbonnier was quoted as saying by CNN. How will it help Ukraine? Experts say cluster bombs could benefit Ukraine in its war with Russia. Cluster munitions are “very useful for clearing out large numbers of infantry,” Sidharth Kaushal, a research fellow at the London-based Royal United Services Institute think tank, told Newsweek. He said these munitions could be “of considerable value” for Ukrainian troops. Speaking to Newsweek, military and defence expert David Hambling said: In theory, cluster munitions could be a force multiplier for Ukrainian airstrikes and artillery, allowing them to inflict more damage with the same number of strikes”. “However, it’s quite debatable how much benefit they would really bring in the current situation,” he said, adding that they “will certainly give some improvement to Ukraine’s offensive capability.” Laura Cooper, US deputy assistant secretary of defence for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, said last month that cluster bombs can benefit Ukraine, “especially against dug-in Russian positions on the battlefield”, reported Forbes. With inputs from agencies