ROME, July 10. /TASS/. The US decision to transfer cluster munitions to Ukraine raises questions as their use against military targets is senseless, former commander of the NATO-led international peacekeeping force in Kosovo, Italian general Fabio Mini told TASS on Monday.

"Cluster bombs against military targets have no sense. This is a weapon against amassments of people or for obstructing troop movement," the general said, pointing out that the use of such weapons by Kiev might prompt Russia’s retaliatory measures.

On July 7, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that the United States had decided to send cluster munitions to Ukraine, even though the United Nations opposes the use of such weapons. He also stated that Kiev had provided Washington with written assurances that these weapons would be used in a way to minimize risks to civilians.

Pentagon Spokesman Patrick Ryder said on July 6 that the United States intended to provide Ukraine with the cluster munitions that allegedly pose the least risk to civilians.

Commenting on US media reports that the United States would provide Ukraine with cluster munitions, Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, said that Guterres supported the Convention on Cluster Munitions and was against the use of such weapons on the battlefield.

Cluster munitions

Cluster bombs can contain hundreds of separate munitions. When detonated in the air, cluster munitions scatter bomblets over an area of dozens of square meters. If unexploded immediately, these bomblets remain lying on the ground, posing a threat to civilians long after the end of a conflict. The Convention on Cluster Munitions was signed in 2008. As many as 111 countries have joined it to date and another 12 states have signed the document but have yet to ratify it. Italy is among the countries that have signed and ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions.