Ukraine and Russia should stop using cluster bombs, urges US not to provide them, says Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch reported Thursday that both Russian and Ukrainian forces deployed cluster bombs that killed Ukrainian civilians, as the US considers whether to respond to the Ukraine government’s request for the weaponry.

Human Rights Watch, an international advocacy organisation, asked both Russia and Ukraine to halt deploying the weapons and urged the United States not to provide them.

More than 120 nations have signed an international convention prohibiting the weapons, which often spread a huge number of tiny bomblets across a vast region, killing or maiming unknowing bystanders months or years later.

Russia, Ukraine and the US have all declined to sign the treaty.

A senior Pentagon official said late last month that cluster munitions would be useful for Ukraine in pushing back against Russian forces, but they had not been approved for Kyiv yet because of congressional restrictions and concerns from allies.

Ukraine fired cluster munition rockets into Russian-controlled areas in and around the eastern Ukrainian city of Izium last year after Russia invaded Ukraine, Human Rights Watch said, citing interviews with more than 100 residents, witnesses and local emergency personnel.

The Ukrainian attacks killed at least eight civilians and wounded at least 15 civilians in Izium, Human Rights Watch said.

The group has previously reported that Russia’s use of cluster munitions in Ukraine has killed scores of civilians, and the United Nations’ Human Rights Council has also documented the use of such bombs by both sides.

“Cluster munitions used by Russia and Ukraine are killing civilians now and will continue to do so for many years,” Mary Wareham, the group’s acting arms director, said in a statement. “Both sides should immediately stop using them and not try to get more of these indiscriminate weapons.”

The Ukraine government has urged members of the US Congress to press President Joe Biden’s administration to approve sending over cluster bombs.

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