Key Points
- The US has approved the distribution of cluster munitions to Ukraine.
- Joe Biden described the decision on cluster bombs as difficult but said Ukraine needed them.
- Human Rights Watch has warned against the move, saying it would present a great danger to civilians.
For months now, Russia and Ukraine have both used cluster bombs in the conflict that has continued for 501 days.
With the supply of artillery shells running low for Ukrainian troops, the Biden administration has decided to provide cluster munitions which Ukraine has requested to target .
The weapons could be fired by a 155mm howitzer cannon, a key piece of US-provided artillery that has allowed Ukraine to win back territory over the past year, according to the Pentagon.
The use of the weapons resulted in 226 deaths of Ukrainian civilians in March alone, according to Human Rights Watch.
The rights group estimates as many as 86,500 civilians have been killed since 1943. The group is concerned by the long-term impact of unexploded bomblets that can injure civilians who may accidentally pick them up long after a conflict has ended.
The use, production and stockpiling of the weapons are banned under a 2008 treaty called the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
A former producer of cluster bombs, Australia is among 123 signatories of the treaty. The US, Ukraine and Russia remain non-signatories.
The US Department of Defence said it is retaining the option of using cluster munitions "to fight adversaries now and in the future". In a 2017 document, the department said the cluster munitions "are legitimate weapons with clear military utility".
What is a cluster bomb?
In the treaty, a cluster munition is defined in Article 2 to include the container and submunitions attached.
The munition is delivered via a rocket or missile from the air or the ground. That action releases bomblets in mid-air over a wide area. Some of the bomblets detonate on impact, but the danger lies in the unexploded bomblets that can go off at a future date - even decades later. The United Nations says it is reported that up to 40 per cent of cluster munitions do not explode on impact.
The Cluster Munition Monitor carries out monitoring of the international treaty's implementation. In their 2022 report, they found 35 signatory countries had destroyed 99 per cent of their cluster munition stockpiles. That amounted to 1.5 million cluster munition stockpiles, comprising 178 million sub-munitions.
The report also noted Russia's extensive use of the internationally banned weapon, causing at least 689 reported civilian casualties in the first half of 2022. That is a 300 per cent increase on the 2021 global total.
Why are human rights groups concerned?
Cluster munitions are on the list of weapons banned under international humanitarian law on armed conflict, which also includes exploding and expanding bullets, chemical weapons, biological weapons, anti-personnel mines, weapons using undetectable fragments and blinding lasers.
Human Rights Watch urged both Ukraine, Russia and the United States to stop using or distributing cluster munitions, saying the use of the weapon in civilian areas could possibly be a war crime.
"Cluster munitions used by Russia and Ukraine are killing civilians now and will continue to do so for many years," Mary Wareham, acting arms director at Human Rights Watch, said.
"Both sides should immediately stop using them and not try to get more of these indiscriminate weapons."
The group released new research looking at the impact of the city of Izium in eastern Ukraine, reporting deaths and crippling injuries.
"Ukrainian forces have used cluster munitions that caused deaths and serious injuries to civilians. Russian forces have extensively used cluster munitions, causing many civilian deaths and serious injuries."
