A bipartisan group of lawmakers is calling on US President Joe Biden's administration to send cluster munitions to Ukraine, which could help Kiev break through entrenched Russian lines that have slowed the current counteroffensive.
This is reported by Foreign Policy.
A bipartisan group led by the Helsinki Commission sent a letter to Biden on Friday urging the White House to send advanced conventional dual-purpose munitions, better known by the acronym DPICM, to Ukraine to help with the counteroffensive.
Such weapons can be used to fire artillery guns and scatter up to 88 bombs on the battlefield. This would help Ukraine cut through Russian tanks and entrenched positions. But if not removed, bombs can continue to kill and maim civilians long after hostilities have ceased.
Lawmakers are mindful of potential human rights issues related to the weapons, but said Ukraine was a "responsible steward" of US-provided weapons.
"During the Cold War, DPICMs were developed and used specifically to counter Russia's numerical and material superiority. Now they can be used as intended for the defense of Ukraine - and for Ukraine's defense of Europe, and, ultimately, for the national security of the United States," the lawmakers believe.
Dan Rice, a former adviser to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhny, noted that when DPICM hits a target, it kills many more Russians. The submunitions that come from the DPICM have a cumulative charge that can penetrate 4 to 8 inches (10.16 - 20.32 cm) of armor.
"So technically, to destroy a platoon or a company, you're going to shoot a lot less," he said.
Military analysts say DPICM can help solve Ukraine's artillery shortage.
Other experts say sending cluster munitions would undermine international arms control regimes, including the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which aims to prevent the global spread of these controversial munitions, which scatter explosive bombs over large areas. At the same time, neither Russia nor Ukraine are participants in the convention. Meanwhile, the US is currently prohibited from exporting DPICM.
At the same time, the Biden administration seems to be leaning towards the possible provision of weapons. So the US president could issue a directive to Congress that would allow the transfer of disputed ammunition to Ukraine.
Ukraine has already received DPICM from other NATO allies
The publication reported that last fall, Turkey allegedly began sending cluster artillery ammunition developed by the United States to Ukraine. At the same time, the United States has a much larger arsenal of such weapons - lawmakers believe that the reserves reach about 3 million units that can be used with 155-mm howitzers.
There is also information that at the beginning of this year, Ukrainian troops used cluster munitions in an attempt to regain territory in the east of Donbas.
Ukraine's desire to receive cluster munitions
As late as 2022, CNN reported that Ukraine had asked the US to provide it with cluster warheads for MLRS and artillery shells, but the Biden administration was not ready to comply with this request.
In February 2023, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, called on Western allies to provide Ukraine with such weapons. However, such a request was criticized in Germany.
At the same time, the media reported that Estonia was considering the possibility of transferring cluster munitions to Ukraine, but this required Germany's consent.
