{"id":15401,"date":"2023-07-12T03:49:45","date_gmt":"2023-07-12T08:49:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=15401"},"modified":"2023-07-27T04:19:42","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T09:19:42","slug":"us-dumping-cluster-bombs-in-ukraine-to-avoid-having-to-dispose-of-them-at-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=15401","title":{"rendered":"US \u2018Dumping Cluster Bombs\u2019 in Ukraine to Avoid Having to Dispose of Them at Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby conceded the dangers to civilians posed by the delivery of cluster munitions to Ukraine, but stressed that Kiev needs the controversial weapons to stay \u201cin the fight.\u201d Washington has good reason to be so nonchalant, top Russian military observers have told Sputnik.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are very mindful of the concerns about civilian casualties and unexploded ordnance being picked up by civilians or children and being hurt, of course we\u2019re mindful of that,\u201d Kirby said<\/a> in a US media interview on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut these munitions do provide a useful battlefield capability,\u201d Kirby added, claiming that unlike Russia, \u201cthe Ukrainians will be using\u2026them to defend their own territory hitting Russian positions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Russian Embassy in Washington pounced on Kirby\u2019s words, pointing out<\/a> that the official had \u201cde facto confessed to the United States committing war crimes during the Ukrainian conflict,\u201d and \u201covertly stat[ing] that civilians would fall victims to cluster-type weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kirby also said that the decision to transfer cluster munitions was \u201cabout keeping Ukraine in the fight,\u201d with Ukraine\u2019s military expending \u201cmany thousands of rounds per day\u201d across the front and \u201crunning out of inventory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKirby seems to be stating the obvious about the situation in foreign munitions arsenals,\u201d veteran Russian military expert Alexei Leonkov<\/strong>, editor of Russian military affairs magazine Arsenal of the Fatherland, told Sputnik.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Highlighting the apparent inability of the US military-industrial complex to keep up with the rate at which Ukraine is expending its munitions, and the decision to dip into stocks of shells from the Pentagon\u2019s own inventories, the observer pointed out that problems with ammo began to show through even last year, when some of the 155 mm shells the US and its allies sent turned out to be duds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The observer pointed out that Washington\u2019s decision is a “precedent” only in the sense that these new cluster munitions are US-made, since in reality, its Ukrainian allies have been using cluster bombs since the very beginning of the conflict, and deliberately targeting civilians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Ukrainian military has used inhumane tactics, using cluster munitions against civilians in large populated areas like Donetsk and Lugansk. The first shell would damage a civilian target, leaving people trapped under rubble. When the rescue services arrived, 40 minutes later, a cluster munition would arrive and kill those coming to help them. There have been many such cases, and they have been documented by the Joint Center of Control and Coordination,\u201d Leonksov said, referring to the Donbass-based watchdog monitoring and documenting shelling attacks on populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dmitri Drozdenko<\/strong>, Arsenal of the Fatherland\u2019s editor-in-chief, told Sputnik that part of the problem with cluster munitions is that it\u2019s essentially impossible to safely shoot down bombs or missiles which are laden with submunitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leonkov agreed, saying it\u2019s essentially pointless to target individual cluster rounds, and that the better strategy is to attack the howitzer that launched it, as well as ammunition dumps storing these munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is US Decision a War Crime?<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Leonkov says the question of who will carry responsibility for war crimes if and when Kiev ends up using its US-made cluster rounds against civilians is a \u201crhetorical\u201d one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For his part, Drozdenko said that formally, the United States probably can\u2019t be charged for treaty violations, since it\u2019s not a party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions (nor is Ukraine). \u201cUkraine has been using cluster munitions made during the Soviet period from the very start of the conflict in 2014. Therefore it\u2019s an open secret that they will be using them, for the most part, as I understand, against peaceful targets, as they already have,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drozdenko noted that Kiev has also already liberally used deadly Lepestok anti-personnel land mines in civilian areas, in violation of the Anti-Personnel Mine treaty, to which Ukraine is<\/em> a signatory, and despite commitments to destroy these weapons. What makes cluster munitions even worse<\/strong> is that unlike Lepestoks, which go off when placed under about 12 kg of pressure, \u201cwith cluster submunitions it\u2019s enough just to touch them\u2026Therefore, their dispersal is even worse than that of a mere mine,\u201d the observer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Would US React?<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Asked to speculate on how Washington would respond if it was put in the same position Russia has, and if US civilians were put in harm\u2019s way by cluster munitions, Leonkov stated bluntly that \u201cthe Americans would call this a direct threat to their national security and begin a military conflict against the country using these types of weapons against its civilians.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drozdenko agreed, saying that the only factor Washington really seems to understand is force, and that they do not negotiate with any party that doesn’t display sufficient strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sputnikglobe<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby conceded the dangers to civilians posed by the delivery of cluster munitions to Ukraine, but stressed that Kiev needs the controversial weapons to stay \u201cin the fight.\u201d Washington has good reason to be so nonchalant, top Russian military observers have told Sputnik. \u201cWe are very mindful of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":15402,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1152,1153],"tags":[6323,9653,9718,9719],"class_list":["post-15401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-humanrights","category-military","tag-admitted","tag-cluster-munitions","tag-delivered","tag-to-ukraine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15401"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15403,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15401\/revisions\/15403"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}