“Cluster munitions are among the most harmful weapons to civilians, as they disperse bomblets indiscriminately across a wide area that often fail to explode on initial impact, leaving duds that litter communities and endanger civilians, especially children, decades after a conflict ends,” the U.S. Cluster Munition Coalition, an organization that supports a comprehensive ban on U.S. cluster bombs, wrote in a statement on Friday.
It’s only a war crime if it comes from the Moscow Oblast region of Russia. Otherwise it’s an unfortunate but necessary defense strategy.
What the hell
Considering that Ukraine is considering using them on their own territory which is already filled with more landmines than you’ll be able to get rid of in a lifetime, I think that’s their decision to make. They will be the ones dealing with the consequences of this, it’s not as if they invaded someone else’s country and used cluster muntitions on civilians of that country like, say, for example…Russia…
Or like the US in Laos and Vietnam.
The humanitarian concern about the ongoing war of aggression (where Russia is using these bombs on Ukrainian civilians) outweighs the concern on this matter… Where Ukraine is furthermore using them on their own soil…
Both Russia and Ukraine have been using Soviet-era cluster munitions since early in the war. The US made versions have a lower failure rate so it’s preferable that Ukraine use those instead.
Now with fewer child mutilations! 👍
