The US said on Friday that it would supply Ukraine with internationally prohibited cluster bombs for its counteroffensive against occupying Russian soldiers, while NATO’s head said the military alliance would unite next week at a summit on how to move Ukraine closer to membership. Rights groups and the UN secretary-general questioned Washington’s decision on the weapons, which are part of a $800 million security package that increases total US military aid to more than $40 billion since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the conflict as a “special military operation” to safeguard Russian security and has stated that the United States and its allies are engaged in an escalating proxy war. The cluster munitions “will deliver in a time frame that is relevant for the counteroffensive,” a Pentagon official told reporters.
More than 100 countries have banned cluster bombs. Russia, Ukraine, and the United States have not signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which prohibits the manufacture, stockpiling, use, and transfer of weapons. They often detonate a large number of tiny bomblets that can kill indiscriminately across a large region. Those that do not detonate represent a threat for decades after a fight has ended.
“Ukraine has provided written assurances that it is going to use these in a very careful way” to minimize risks to civilians, White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan said. US President Joe Biden called the decision on cluster bombs difficult, but he stated that Ukraine required them.
What are cluster bombs?
Cluster bombs are a way of scattering a large number of tiny bomblets from a rocket, missile, or artillery shell across a vast region in mid-flight. The bomblets are designed to explode on impact, however many of them do not. They can then explode at a later date on being picked up or trodden on.
Cluster bombs should be stopped by both sides – HRW
Human Rights Watch has accused Russian and Ukrainian forces of employing cluster munitions, which have resulted in the deaths of people. Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov denounced the United States’ delivery of these weapons to Ukraine. “The cruelty and cynicism with which Washington has approached the issue of transferring lethal weapons to Kyiv is striking,” TASS news agency on Friday quoted Antonov as saying. “Now, by the fault of the US, there will be a risk for many years that innocent civilians will be blown up by submunitions that have failed.”
Ukraine claims to have retaken some villages in southern Ukraine since the counteroffensive began in early June, but it lacks the artillery and air cover needed to make speedier progress. The battlefield situation could not be independently verified by Reuters. “It’s too early to judge how the counteroffensive is going one way or the other because we’re at the beginning of the middle,” Colin Kahl, the United States’ undersecretary of defense for policy, told reporters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy traveled to the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Turkey to rally support for NATO membership
A day after meetings in Bulgaria, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy traveled to the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Turkey to rally support for NATO membership ahead of the alliance’s July 11-12 summit. After meeting with Zelenskiy, Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan stated that Ukraine deserved NATO membership and that Ankara will continue to work on a negotiated conclusion to the war.
In Prague, Zelenskiy got a guarantee of support for Ukraine’s participation in NATO “as soon as the war is over,” while in Sofia, he secured support for inclusion “as soon as conditions permit.” North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg reiterated his belief that Ukraine will join the organization. “Our summit will send a clear message: NATO stands united, and Russia’s aggression will not pay,” Stoltenberg said at a news conference in Brussels.
However, it is unclear what Ukraine will be offered during the conference next week in Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital. The alliance is divided on how quickly Ukraine should join, and some countries are leery of any move that could push NATO closer to confrontation with Russia. Biden, in an excerpt of a CNN interview that aired on Friday, underscored the point. “I don’t think there is unanimity in NATO” about Ukraine joining now, he said. While at war with Russia, Kyiv is unlikely to be able to join NATO, according to Zelenskiy. Putin has warned Ukraine with unspecified retaliation if it joins NATO.
The United Nations and Turkey forged a pact with Russia and Ukraine to help combat a global food crisis
At the United Nations, assistance director Martin Griffiths advised Russia not to “throw away” a year-old deal on the safe transit of agricultural exports over the Black Sea, known as the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Griffiths told reporters that if Russia does not agree to renew the agreement that allows grain and fertilizer exports from Ukrainian ports, Western powers are unlikely to continue collaborating with UN authorities assisting Moscow with its exports.
Russia has threatened to withdraw from the agreement, which is set to expire on July 17, because several demands to export its own grain and fertilizer have yet to be met. The last three ships traveling under the agreement are loading cargo in the Ukrainian port of Odesa and are scheduled to leave on Monday. In July 2022, the United Nations and Turkey forged a pact with Russia and Ukraine to help combat a global food crisis exacerbated by Moscow’s invasion of its neighbor and blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports.