Pandora’s box has been officially opened: The Washington Post, citing unnamed Ukrainian officials familiar with the situation, said that the AFU has started using American cluster munitions to destroy Russian fortifications.
“Ukraine has started launching US-provided cluster munitions,” the publication said.
According to the newspaper’s interlocutors, the shells are used to destroy trenches. In addition, they may be used to advance in the area of Artemovsk.
The newspaper recalls that Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier said that if Ukraine uses such weapons, Russia reserves “the right to mirror actions”. He also stated that “so far we have not done this, we have not used it”. At the same time, the Ukrainian side indicated that it intended to use cluster munitions to compensate for “a significant shortage of artillery, shells and personnel”.
Cluster munitions are not provided with self-destruct devices. According to the U.S. military, between five and 14 per cent of the munitions may not explode at all because they have been lying in storage for a long time. In that case, they would be mines that threaten civilians even after the conflict is over. The international non-governmental organisation Human Rights Watch has already stated that the transfer of such weapons to Kyiv will inevitably lead to long-term suffering for the civilian population and negate international censure of their use.
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