BERLIN, July 10. /TASS/. Germany has never supplied and will never supply cluster munitions to Ukraine, a German foreign ministry spokesman said on Monday.

"We have not supplied such weapons and will not supply them," he said, adding that the United States’ decision to send such munitions to Kiev was preceded "by a long process of weighing" possible consequences. The German foreign ministry expressed the hope that the US side had considered a scenario where the conflict could escalate following the cluster bomb supplies.

On July 7, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that the United States had decided to send cluster munitions to Ukraine, despite the fact that the United Nations opposed the use of such munitions. He also said that Kiev had issued written assurances to Washington that those weapons would be used in a way so as to minimize risks to civilians. Pentagon Spokesman Patrick Ryder said on Thursday that the United States was poised to provide Ukraine with cluster munitions that posed the least risk to civilians.

Deputy Spokesperson for the UN Secretary General Farhan Haq said earlier, commenting on media reports about 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 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.