Immediate military interest sometimes supersedes ethical and humanitarian considerations. By deciding, after long hesitation, to supply Ukraine with cluster munitions, the Biden administration is responding to a pressing request from kyiv.
This green light, confirmed Friday, July 7 by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, is part ofa massive new package of military aid granted to Ukraine by Washington, amounting to 800 million dollars (approximately 730 million euros).
The White House conceives the sending of these cluster bombs as a way of coping with the most urgent, to maintain the constant delivery effort in kyiv. Faced with the inability of the military-industrial complex to fulfill orders in a short time and the worrying reduction in the army’s ammunition stocks, the administration was forced to use this very controversial expedient because of the immediate damage and to long term on civilians.
“We have already seen substantial increases in production, explained Jake Sullivan. But this process will continue to take time, and it will be essential to provide Ukraine with a supply bridge. (…) We delayed the decision as long as we could. (…) Now is the time to start building this bridge so that at no time, this summer or early fall, will Ukraine run out of artillery. »
The adviser insisted that Ukraine would not use these cluster munitions “in a foreign land” but to defend its territory, and that its objective is to preserve its civilian population as much as possible. An index betraying American discomfort: Jake Sullivan even mentioned the existence “written assurances” provided by kyiv on the measured use of these weapons. But how will this measure be determined, with bombs striking with so little discernment? On the other hand, according to specialists, they will offer an unprecedented margin of maneuver in terms of artillery to the Ukrainian army, until now forced to save fire against the Russians.
Turmoil within NATO
The term “cluster munition” implies the imprecise dispersal over a wide field of submunitions each weighing less than 20 kilos, dropped from aircraft or from missile batteries. Some explode immediately, others later. Concluded in 2008, the Oslo Convention prohibiting the use and transfer of these weapons has not been signed by the United States, Russia, Ukraine or China, contrary to what nearly 120 other states. The text provided in particular for the destruction of stocks, the clearance of areas contaminated by the remains of unexploded cluster munitions and the organization of assistance to victims.
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