ROME, July 9. /TASS/. The US government’s decision to provide the Kiev government with cluster munitions marks the ‘latest bout of insanity’ in the Ukrainian conflict, said Italian senator Giuseppe De Cristofaro, who represents the opposition alliance of the Left and the Green Italia parties.
"The US decision to send heinous cluster bombs, prohibited under the Oslo Convention [on Cluster Munitions], is the latest bout of insanity of this war, which, under this scenario, may become a permanent conflict," the ANSA news agency quoted him as saying.
In the Italian senator’s opinion, "there is no chance" of ending this conflict by "victory on the battlefield."
"A true path of peace, promoted by Europe, is necessary, and all countries must be devoted to it. Otherwise, this conflict will evolve into a global one," De Cristofaro added.
On July 7, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that the United States has decided to send Ukraine cluster munitions, even as the United Nations opposes the use of them. He also said that Kiev has provided Washington with written assurances that those weapons will be used in a way that minimizes risks to civilians. Pentagon Spokesman Patrick Ryder said on Thursday that the United States is poised to provide Ukraine with cluster munitions that pose the least risk to civilians.
Deputy Spokesperson for the UN Secretary General Farhan Haq said earlier, commenting on media reports that the US plans to supply such munitions to Ukraine, that UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres supports the Convention on Cluster Munitions and is against the use of such weapons on the battlefield.
Cluster munitions
A cluster bomb, or a cluster munition, can contain hundreds of explosive submunitions. When a cluster munition detonates in the air, submunitions can be left scattered on an area of tens of square meters. If some of them fail to function immediately but land on the ground without exploding, these submunitions pose a threat to civilians long after a conflict has ended. The 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions has been joined by 111 countries so far, while another 12 nations have signed but not yet ratified it.
According to Human Rights Watch, the dud rate of cluster munitions is usually much higher than the declared level, and that leads to civilian casualties.