According to media reports and human right groups, the Russian military has used cluster-bombs in at least two attacks against Ukraine since its invasion on February 24. These strikes have led to civilian deaths. These strikes could eventually be considered a violation of international humanitarian law. war crimeGiven the explosives’ indiscriminate nature and the reasonable expectation that they might not explode immediately, civilians could be exposed to dangers for many years.
In a strike on a hospital in Vuhledar in the Donetsk area, four Russians were killed and 10 others were injured in a Russian attack accordingHuman Right Watch. Russian forces struck Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, with multiple rounds of cluster munitions strikes, according to weapons experts who spoke with Reuters.A preschool in Okhtyrka in Sumy Oblast was also hit by cluster bombs that were believed to have been used by Russian forces. Three civilians were killed, according to the report. Amnesty International. Bellingcat, an open-source intelligence organisation, has identified other uses of cluster munitions in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, though it’s not clear whether those strikes resulted in any casualties.
Cluster munitions are a category of weapon that covers any delivery system that opens in midair to scatter tens or hundreds of “bomblets” that rain down over a dispersed area. They can be dropped from aircraft or fired from artillery. This weapon is controversial even though it is considered a modern weapon. The bomblets — which are similar to landmines — are not precise and do not discriminate between soldiers and civilians, by definition. Many times, smaller bombs do not explode on impact, putting civilians at risk for many years.
Since 2010, 110 countries joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which bans their use, while another 13 are signatories that haven’t ratified it yet. Importantly, the United States, Russia, and China have not joined the ban. The ban has not been applied to Ukraine nor its ally, Saudi Arabia. U.S.-made cluster munitionsAs recently as 2016, the United States was fighting a war in Yemen. According to the United States military, it is not believed that cluster bombs were used in the 2009 strike in Yemen. Human Rights WatchThis monitors the weapon use closely.
Some estimates suggest that as much as 85 percent casualties from cluster bombs since the treaty’s enactment have been civilians. “Evidence from Afghanistan, Laos, Lebanon, Iraq, Serbia, and other affected states’ cluster munitions revealed that there was no responsible way to use cluster munitions due to their inherently indiscriminate nature,” writes Erin Hunt, program manager at Mines Action Canada. In general, the “laws of war” require militaries to follow several key requirements: to distinguish between civilians and combatants, to attack only military targets and to make the risk to civilians “proportional” to the military objective. As a result, even analysts who reject a more vehement critique of militarism and war are still able to unite in opposition to cluster bombs, arguing that their use in general, and their apparent recent use by Russia, don’t meet those requirements.
Russia has been invading Ukraine for more than seven weeks now. It is a war on aggression that has drawn wide condemnation from around the world and has also isolated the country economically and diplomatically. Russia’s currency, the ruble, plummeted on the news that the United States would impose sanctions on the country’s Central Bank, a first for a G20 member nation.
Russia’s push toward Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, has advanced slower than many military expertsInitial predictions. Early reporting has indicated that the Ukrainian military and volunteer forces have held up significantly better than expected, and Russia’s apparent belief in a swift tactical victory seems to have been misplaced, at least for the moment. Despite the Ukrainians’ ability to repel the early attacks, most still believe that if Russia is committed to taking the capital, it’s just a matter of time. On Monday, the Russian military unleashed “multiple-launch rocket fire against residential neighborhoods in Kharkiv, killing at least 10 civilians,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
Russia’s use of cluster munitions in Kharkiv could be a signal of what’s to come, especially if its military continues to face stiffer opposition than expected. Experts are concerned that Russia might enter a new phase, one specific, of the invasion. designedto terrorize and demoralize Ukrainian civilians. Some U.S. officials are involved in this. claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin is growing “increasingly frustrated” with the campaign, and may order an escalation of the violence.
Of particular concern is that Putin may pursue similar tactics to those his military used in defense of their close ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, following that country’s revolution during the Arab uprisings. Both Russia and Syria’s government deployedCluster munitions are used widely in Syria. They also expose civilians to chemical attack and prolonged sieges of heavily populated areas.
The Convention on Cluster Munitions, which was established under the auspices of the authoritySome success has been achieved by the United Nations stigmatizingThe use of weapons. The convention’s signatories have taken significant steps to reduce their weapons use.
The weapons are still being used. Russian-backed militants have used cluster munitions in Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, South Sudan, and Cambodia. Russia and Georgia are also involved. eachThey used the weapons in their war in 2008, which was won by the United States. some now see as Putin’s template for Ukraine.
The U.S.’s approach to cluster munitions has been entirely inadequateEven though the government and military have restricted their sale and use in recent years, they are still available. Prior to the 2009 U.S. strikes in Yemen, killed41 civilians were the last U.S. useThe 2003 invasion of Iraq saw the destruction of many weapons.
The Bush administration, which was facing international pressure, in large part due to the cluster weapons ban, issued a new directive in 2008. policyThe U.S. military was prohibited from using cluster munitions that fail to explode at a rate of more than 1 percent in 2018. That decision resulted “in essence, [in] banning all but a tiny fraction of the existing arsenal,” accordingMary Wareham is Human Rights Watch’s arms division advocacy director. Trump’s 2017 override of this policy was however a major factor. replacingIt was also permissible to use the weapons in much more relaxed conditions. Trump allowed commanders to deploy the existing stockpiles “until sufficient quantities” of “enhanced and more reliable” bombs could be researched and developed. Despite heavy criticism from the human right community, President Joe Biden has maintained that policy.
According to the Cluster Munition Monitoring, which tracks weapons use, the United States does not produce cluster bombs anymore. However, Russia, China, and India are developing new weapons. Although the consensusThe consensus in the human rights community is the weapons are not legal to use according to the laws of war, are immoral, and don’t create a battlefield advantage to justify their many drawbacks. However, this perspective is not shared with some in the U.S military who have continued to argue for their use to slow or disrupt large-scale “enemy” movements by militaries across a wide space.
Cluster bombs are often used against civilians when they are actually used. They kill randomly. They also kill civilians if they explode in the heat and fury of battle.
Russia’s use of the weapons is horrific, unjustifiable and inexcusable. The United States can and should do more to stigmatize and lessen the global use of cluster munitions, first and foremost by revoking Trump’s 2017 policy and then by joining the treaty that bans their use.
