NEW YORK, September 5. /TASS/. Nearly all deaths and injuries caused by cluster munitions in 2022 were registered in Ukraine, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) international organization said in a report.

"Cluster munition attacks killed or wounded at least 987 people in 2022, of whom 890 were in Ukraine, and 95% of whom were civilians," the report says.

The organization claims that this type of ammunition was used by both Russian and Ukrainian armed forces. According to the report, at least 21 government leaders and officials, including from countries supporting Ukraine militarily, criticized the US government's decision to transfer an unspecified quantity of its stockpiled 155mm artillery-delivered cluster munitions to the Kiev government in July.

UN Secretary-General's spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on July 21 that the UN was concerned about reports on the use of cluster munitions by the Ukrainian armed forces and believed they should not be used. On July 7, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that his country had decided to send Ukraine cluster munitions, the use of which is opposed by the UN. On July 13, Director for Operations in the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Douglas Sims said that the Ukrainian armed forces had received cluster munitions from the US. White House National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby confirmed on July 20 that Ukraine had begun using US-supplied cluster munitions sometime in the past seven days.

In turn, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia reserves the right to use cluster munitions in response to Ukraine’s use of them. The supply of such weapons and their use should be considered a crime, Putin added.