BEIRUT, July 11. /TASS/. The United States’ plans to supply cluster munitions to Ukraine may lead to a catastrophic deterioration of the situation, the Syrian foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

"The United States’ dangerous plans to provide the Kiev regime with cluster munitions in violation of international agreements and the United Nations’ warnings mean the protraction of the aggressive war the Western coalition has unleashed against Russia. These plans are fraught with a catastrophic escalation which threatens the future of humankind," the ministry said in a press statement released by the SANA news agency.

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 these weapons would be used in a way so as to minimize risks to civilians. Pentagon Spokesman Patrick Ryder said that the United States was poised to provide Ukraine with cluster munitions that posed the least risk to civilians.

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. Depending on the type of munitions, from 10 to 40% of bomblets do not explode. In recent decades, such bombs have been fitted with self-destruct devices, which activate within a few days after use, but around five percent of them do not go off and become mines.