Russo-Ukraine War: As the Russia-Ukraine war nears 500 days with no end in sight, the United States has offered another $800 million military aid package to Kiev as aid for the war effort against Russian forces, including cluster munitions. announced. People familiar with the decision.
The latest military aid to Ukraine is likely to be announced on Friday, according to US officials, reports the AP. The decision comes amid widespread concerns that the munitions will result in civilian casualties.
The controversial cluster bombs are known to spread over a large area and destroy multiple targets at the same time. The Ukrainian government had been looking for him for a long time. The ‘dude rate’ of US-provided weapons has reportedly been reduced, meaning there will be fewer unexploded shells.
US officials said Russia is already using cluster munitions on battlefields and populated civilian areas. Ukraine has asked for the munitions as they are said to be launching a major counter-offensive to push back Russian forces on their territory.
Pentagon press secretary Pat Ryder also said on Thursday that if munitions were provided to Ukraine, the US would “carefully select rounds with low dud rates, for which we have recent test data”. He also said that the Russians were using very high rates of cluster munitions.
US-provided cluster weapons can be loaded with specific charges to help Ukrainian forces penetrate armor and kill multiple personnel at once.
Michael McCaul, chairman of the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said the move was long overdue. “Now is the time for the US and its allies to provide Ukraine with the systems it needs, from cluster munitions to F-16s to ATACMS, to support their critical counteroffensive. Any further delay could lead to countless Ukrainian lives will be lost and this brutal situation will last a long war,” he added.
According to the Pentagon, cluster munitions were used extensively by the US during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. During the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, 1,500 cluster bombs were used. Many groups have expressed concern over this. Use by the Russian military in Ukraine.
The US, Russia and Ukraine are among the countries that have not signed the convention banning the use of cluster bombs.
Meanwhile, the Russia-Ukraine war is set to complete 500 days this weekend, since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Several missile strikes and intense fighting have resulted in large-scale civilian casualties as well as many civilian deaths on both sides. Casualty.
Ten people were killed and 42 injured in the latest Russian rocket attack on the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Thursday, according to the local mayor.
(with agency inputs)
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