US to send Ukraine cluster munitions, Nato makes membership pledge
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Ukrainian servicemen fire a howitzer towards Russian troops, near the town of Soledar, in Ukraine's Donetsk region.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON – The United States announced on Friday that it would supply Ukraine with widely banned cluster munitions for its counter-offensive against occupying Russian forces, and Nato’s leader said the military alliance would unite at a summit next week on how to bring Ukraine closer to joining it.
Rights groups and the United Nations secretary-general questioned Washington’s decision on the munitions, part of an US$800 million (S$1.1 billion) security package
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who describes the conflict as a “special military operation”
The cluster munitions “will deliver in a timeframe that is relevant for the counter-offensive”, a Pentagon official told reporters.
Cluster munitions are prohibited by more than 100 countries. They typically release large numbers of smaller bomblets that can kill indiscriminately over a wide area. Those that fail to explode pose a danger for decades after a conflict ends.
“Ukraine has provided written assurances that it is going to use these in a very careful way” to minimise risks to civilians, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said.
US President Joe Biden described the decision on cluster bombs as difficult, but said Ukraine needed them.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov welcomed the US decision to send cluster bombs to Kyiv, and said they would help save the lives of Ukrainian soldiers, adding that Ukraine would keep a strict record of their use and exchange information with its partners.
“Our position is simple – we need to liberate our temporarily occupied territories and save the lives of our people,” Mr Reznikov wrote on Twitter.
“Ukraine will use these munitions only for the de-occupation of our internationally recognised territories. These munitions will not be used on the officially recognised territory of Russia.”
Russia, Ukraine and the US have not signed on to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which bans production, stockpiling, use and transfer of the weapons.
Both sides should stop using cluster bombs: Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch has accused Russian and Ukrainian forces of using cluster munitions, which have killed civilians.
Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov criticised the transfer of these weapons to Ukraine by the US.
“The cruelty and cynicism with which Washington has approached the issue of transferring lethal weapons to Kyiv is striking,” Tass news agency on Friday quoted Mr Antonov as saying.
“Now, by the fault of the US, there will be a risk for many years that innocent civilians will be blown up by submunitions that have failed.”
Ukraine says it has taken back some villages in southern Ukraine since the counter-offensive began in early June, but that it lacks the firepower and air cover to make faster progress.
Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield situation.
“It is too early to judge how the counter-offensive is going one way or the other because we are at the beginning of the middle,” Mr Colin Kahl, the US Undersecretary of Defence for Policy, told reporters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tours Nato countries
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Turkey a day after talks in Bulgaria to drum up support for Nato membership before the alliance’s summit on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after meeting Mr Zelensky that Ukraine deserved Nato membership and Ankara would continue working on a negotiated end to the war.
In Prague, Mr Zelensky won a pledge of support for Ukraine to join Nato “as soon as the war is over”, and in Sofia secured backing for membership “as soon as conditions allow”.
Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg reaffirmed his view that Ukraine would become a member.
“Our summit will send a clear message: Nato stands united, and Russia’s aggression will not pay,” he said at a news conference in Brussels.
It remained unclear, however, what Ukraine will be offered at the summit in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital.
The alliance is divided over how fast Ukraine should move towards membership, and some countries are wary of any step that might take Nato closer to war with Russia.
Mr Biden, in an excerpt of a CNN interview that aired on Friday, underscored the point.
“I don’t think there is unanimity in Nato” about Ukraine joining now, he said.
Mr Zelensky has acknowledged that Kyiv is unlikely to be able to join Nato while at war with Russia. Mr Putin has threatened unspecified action if Ukraine joins Nato.
UN warns Russia on grains deal
At the United Nations, aid chief Martin Griffiths warned Russia that it should not “chuck away” an agreement it made a year ago on the safe wartime passage of agricultural exports, known as the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
If Russia does not agree to extend the deal that allows export of grain and fertiliser from Ukrainian ports, it is unlikely Western states will continue cooperating with UN officials helping Moscow with its exports, Mr Griffiths told reporters.
Russia has threatened to quit the deal, which expires on July 17, because several demands to export its own grain and fertiliser have not been met.
The last three ships travelling under the deal are loading cargoes at the Ukrainian port of Odesa and are likely to depart on Monday.
The UN and Turkey brokered the deal with Russia and Ukraine in July 2022 to help tackle a global food crisis worsened by Moscow’s invasion of its neighbour and blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports. REUTERS
