The White House’s National Security Council (NSC) spokesperson John Kirby admitted that Washington was supplying Ukraine with cluster munitions to replace the regular artillery ammunition that its armed forces are rapidly depleting.
Kirby confessed to this during an interview that was broadcast on Sunday, July 9th.
“We are trying to ramp up our production of the kind of artillery shells that they’re using most. But that production is still not where we wanted it to be”, the White House official said. “So, we’re going to see these additional artillery shells that have cluster bomblets in them to help bridge the gap as we ramp up production of normal 155 artillery shells”, Kirby added.
Accusing the US government of de facto confessing its involvement in war crimes in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Russian Embassy in Washington sharply reacted by saying, “We have taken note of the Director for Strategic Communications of the NSC John Kirby’s statements about the provision of cluster munitions to Ukraine. The official de facto confessed to the United States committing war crimes during the Ukrainian conflict. He overtly stated that civilians would fall victim to [the US’] cluster-type weapons. According to the perverted view of the White House representative, this does less harm than the actions of Russia”.
“If there is any logic behind the Administration’s decision to transfer cluster munitions, it boils down to ‘it won’t get any worse.’ The United States is ready to destroy life far from its own borders with the hands of Ukrainians”, the embassy added.
According to the Russian diplomats, the US administration is involved in this “only for the sake of an unattainable dream of the strategic defeat of the Russian Federation, which defends its people and its land. We fight Kiev criminals who embrace the Azov terrorists, while the United States is helping Ukrainian Nazis commit inhumane acts.”
The Azov Battalion is a neo-Nazi force in Ukraine that fought alongside the regular Ukrainian forces on different frontiers, including Donbas.
Ukrainian forces are reportedly using artillery shells at an astronomically fast pace, unlike the Russians. This is the reason their ammunition stocks deplete faster than what their western partners could replenish. Thus, facing an acute shortage of ammunition for its artillery, the Ukrainians seek cluster munitions to target the Russian defensive trenches.
Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, had earlier said that the UN chief supported the Convention on Cluster Munitions and opposed the use of this type of weapon on the battlefield.
Human rights groups have also described cluster munitions as “abhorrent” and even a war crime. In 2008, 107 countries signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The Convention became a binding international law when it entered into force on August 1st 2010. A total of 123 states have joined the Convention until now. Among them,111 are state parties and 12 are signatories.
However, countries like China, India, Russia, Ukraine, and the US, along with several others, are not signatories of the Convention. Hence, these countries can use and operate cluster munitions with impunity, although using such weapons will be considered a major war crime.
The US has so far not responded to Russia’s accusations or Kirby’s de facto confession of committing war crimes in Ukraine.
