The US will give Ukraine cluster bombs as part of a new military aid package, sources have said.
Thousands will be sent to help in the war against Russia, it is expected to be announced on Friday.
The decision comes despite widespread concerns that the controversial bombs can cause civilian casualties.
BREAKING: Amnesty International opposes the transfer of cluster munitions to the armed forces of Ukraine
Daniel Balson, @AmnestyUSA’s Advocacy Director for Europe and Central Asia said:https://t.co/WEaSFb9IJA— Amnesty International USA (@amnestyusa) July 6, 2023
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The Pentagon will provide munitions with a reduced “dud rate,” meaning there will be far fewer unexploded rounds, which can result in unintended civilian deaths.
US officials said on Thursday that the cluster bombs will be part of about 800 million dollars (about £628 million) in new military assistance to Ukraine.
Long sought by Ukraine, cluster bombs are weapons that open in the air, releasing bomblets which are dispersed over a large area and intended to wreak destruction on multiple targets at once.
Ukrainian officials asked for the weapons to aid their campaign to push through lines of Russian troops and make gains in the ongoing counteroffensive.
Russian forces are already using cluster bombs on the battlefield, US officials said.
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, some cluster bombs leave behind bomblets with a high rate of failure to explode — up to 40% in some cases.
US officials said the rate of unexploded ordnance for the munitions going to Ukraine is less than 3% and will mean fewer threats to civilians.
Cluster bombs can be fired by artillery that the US has given Ukraine and the Pentagon has a large stockpile of them.
The last large-scale American use of cluster bombs was during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, according to the Pentagon.
But US forces considered them a key weapon during the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, according to Human Rights Watch.
In the first three years of that conflict, it is estimated the US-led coalition dropped more than 1,500 cluster bombs in Afghanistan.
Proponents of banning cluster bombs say they kill indiscriminately and endanger civilians long after their use.
Groups have raised alarms about Russia’s use of the munitions in Ukraine.
A convention banning the use of cluster bombs has been joined by more than 120 countries who agreed not to use, produce, transfer or stockpile the weapons and to clear them after they have been used.
The United States, Russia and Ukraine are among the countries that have not signed on.
It is not clear how America’s Nato allies will view the US providing cluster bombs to Ukraine and whether the issue might prove divisive for their largely united support of Kyiv.
More than two-thirds of the 30 countries in the alliance are signatories of the 2010 convention on cluster munitions.
Laura Cooper, a deputy assistant secretary of defence focusing on Russia and Ukraine, recently told Congress that the Pentagon has assessed that such munitions would help Kyiv press through Russia’s dug-in positions.
