The Biden administration is poised to send a new package of munitions to Ukraine in the midst of an ammunition shortage, including controversial cluster munitions, which have been banned by more than a hundred nations. Despite initial hesitation, the United States is reportedly preparing to send the cluster munitions as part of an $800 million aid package to the Ukrainian military, which also includes Bradley and Stryker fighting vehicles.
The inclusion of cluster bombs is likely to prove controversial. The use of cluster munitions, which consist of several “bomblets” encased in a larger shell or bomb casing, has been criticized for the excessive collateral damage that they cause. At least 123 countries have already banned the use of these munitions. because they are unreliable and could harm civilians. When the bomblets do not explode, the wide dispersal of these smaller explosives means that civilians can be maimed or killed by unexploded ordnance as many as 50 years after the bombs were initially dropped.
Even the United States has restrictions on the use of cluster ordnance, prohibiting the transfer of such munitions which have a bomblet failure rate of greater than one percent. However, as reported by the BBC, “President Joe Biden is able to bypass this rule.” Beyond a one percent failure rate, officials of the Department of Defense stated “the Biden administration was considering sending cluster munitions with a failure rate lower than 2.35%.”
Both the Russians and Ukrainians have been utilizing cluster munitions. Ukraine has become increasingly insistent that the United States begin providing such munitions as supplies of ammunition for their western-built artillery implements have begun to dwindle.
Despite attempting to phase out their supplies of cluster munitions since 2016 “because of the danger they pose to civilians,” it appears that the Biden administration has no problem handing them off to Ukraine for use in the ongoing conflict, so that it can fight fire with fire.