GENEVA, September 9. /TASS/. The Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) which campaigns against the use of this type of munition has concluded that the United States approved five transfers of cluster munitions to Kiev between July 2023 and April 2024, the international civil society movement said in its latest report.

"Between July 2023 and April 2024, US President Joe Biden approved five transfers to Ukraine of US cluster munitions delivered by 155mm artillery projectiles and by ballistic missiles," the report reads. The authors argue that "Ukraine may have acquired cluster munitions from other countries in this period," even though "reports of such transfers have been denied by the countries concerned."

According to the annual report, last year, as many as 219 cluster munition casualties were recorded globally. In 2023, the total number of casualties "represents a significant decrease compared to the previous year's record spike, however, the actual number is likely much higher as many casualties go unreported," experts insist. As regards the Ukraine conflict alone, "more than 50 cluster munition attacks were reported in 2023 where the number of casualties that occurred was not noted." Last year, new cluster munition casualties were also recorded in Azerbaijan, Iraq, Laos, Lebanon, Mauritius, Myanmar, Syria and Yemen.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions was signed in Oslo, Norway, in December 2008 and entered into force on August 1, 2010, six months after it was formally ratified by 30 countries. So far, a total of 124 nations have joined the convention, to which Russia, the United States and Ukraine are non-signatories.