US may send banned cluster bombs to Ukraine

The US is close to approving cluster munitions for Ukraine, according to reports.

Officials said the controversial weapons, which release multiple, smaller bombs, could be announced in a new military aid package as soon as next month.

Ukraine has been pushing Washington since last year to provide the munitions to help counter Russia’s superiority in long-range weapons.

The US has been hesitant to provide them because of the potential risk to civilians and an international treaty banning the use of cluster munitions.

But the White House has renewed its consideration because of the Ukrainian struggle to make major gains in its counter-offensive.

“These would undoubtedly have a significant battlefield impact,” a US official told CNN.

The US has large stockpiles of cluster munitions that it developed during the Cold War but has been phasing them out since 2016.

Kyiv has been asking for cluster munitions that are compatible with Himars precision rocket launchers as well as 155mm artillery howitzers.

Ukrainian officials have argued their troops would be able to make good use of the weapons rather than letting them gather dust on shelves in the US.

NBC News reported that Ukraine could receive dual-purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICMs) surface-to-surface warheads that explode and scatter small bombs over a wide area.

The weapons system can be fired from artillery systems already sent from Washington to Kyiv.

Laura Cooper, the deputy assistant secretary of defence for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia affairs, said: “Our military analysts have confirmed that DPICMs would be useful, especially against dug-in Russian positions on the battlefield.”

But some human rights groups have warned unexploded bomblets left on the battlefield could injure or kill innocent civilians.

Russia has used similar weapons against Ukraine since the start of the war.

Moscow, Kyiv and Washington are not signatories to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.