US-supplied cluster munitions have been deployed in Ukraine and are having an impact on the counteroffensive against Russian forces, a senior White House official has said.
“We have gotten some initial feedback from the Ukrainians, and they’re using them quite effectively,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Thursday.
Ukraine has pledged to only use the controversial bombs to dislodge concentrations of Russian enemy soldiers. Kirby said the cluster munitions are having an impact on Russian defensive formations and manoeuvring.
The munitions arrived in Ukraine last week and are seen by the US as a way to get Kyiv critically needed ammunition to help bolster its offensive and push through Russian frontlines. US officials have said Washington will provide thousands of the rounds, but provided no specific numberss
US leaders debated whether to provide the munitions for months, before President Joe Biden made the final decision this month.
Cluster munitions, which are banned in more than 100 countries, are bombs that open in the air and release scores of smaller bomblets that can kill indiscriminately over a wide area. Those that fail to explode can pose a danger for decades.
Human rights organisations criticised Biden’s decision, noting that at least 149 civilians were killed or injured worldwide by such weapons in 2021, according to the Cluster Munition Monitor.
Biden described the decision to provide the projectiles as “very difficult”, citing their record of killing civilians.
US leaders have said the US will send a version of the munition that has a reduced “dud rate”, meaning fewer of the smaller bomblets fail to explode. Each side has accused the other of using cluster bombs in the conflict begun by Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
The deployment of the munitions comes as Kyiv reports a new attempt by Russia to return to the offensive in the north-east of Ukraine, where it says Moscow has massed 100,000 troops and hundreds of tanks.
Since last month, Ukrainian forces have been on the march in the east and the south, recapturing small amounts of territory in their first big counteroffensive since last year. The going has been slow, and they are yet to take on Russia’s main defensive lines.
Reuters contributed to this report
