US President Joe Biden is set to announce Ukraine weapons package that includes cluster munitions, reports said
The Biden administration is expected to announce a new Ukraine weapons aid package on Friday – and it will include cluster munitions, two US officials have told Reuters.
According to The Guardian, the weapons, which were first used during the second world war, typically release large numbers of smaller bomblets and are notorious for killing civilians.
They do not always explode, posing a future risk to civilians, and were banned by most of the world under a 2008 treaty called the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which the US, Russia and Ukraine did not sign, the report noted.
A CNN report said that it reported last week that US President Joe Biden's administration was strongly considering approving the transfer of the controversial weapons to Ukraine, as the Ukrainians have struggled to make major gains in its weeks-old counteroffensive. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed also concerns about ammunition shortages.
Changing battlefield conditions inside Ukraine over the last two weeks prompted US officials to give the cluster munitions renewed and serious consideration, CNN said quoting "officials."