Zelenskyy’s advisor explains why cluster munitions are crucial for Ukraine

According to Podolyak, cluster munitions are of utmost importance to Ukrainian soldiers because they:

— compensate for the shell deficit,

— partially restore parity on the battlefield.

"Given the fact that Russia has been using this type of ammunition in Ukraine for over a year, this is at least fair,” he said.

“And actually Russia should be talked to only in a language it understands — commensurate force…”

Ukraine made a confidential request to the United States for the transfer of cluster munitions, including air-launched cluster bombs MK-20, which the U.S. has agreed to supply.

In 2008, the Convention on Cluster Munitions was adopted in Ireland, which prohibits the use of this type of weapon. To date, it has been ratified by approximately 100 countries worldwide. However, neither the United States, nor Russia, nor Ukraine are among them.

Although the United States has not ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions, at the end of President George W. Bush's second term, then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates implemented an approach in which the United States planned to eliminate its stocks of cluster munitions, in which more than 1% of submunitions might not detonate upon use.

Now, the administration of Joe Biden has found a way to transfer cluster munitions to Ukraine, citing an urgent necessity and national security needs. According to reports, projectiles with a failure rate of submunitions not exceeding 2.35% are carefully selected for Ukraine.

Later, Jake Sullivan, the White House National Security Advisor to Biden, announced that the United States would transfer cluster munitions to Ukraine.

The Pentagon officially announced a new $800 million military aid package to Ukraine, which will include cluster munitions.