US lawmakers ask for cluster munitions for Ukraine

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers is calling on President Joe Biden to provide Ukraine with cluster munitions, also known as dual-purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM), Foreign Policy wrote on June 26.

DPICMs can be fired by the 155mm artillery systems that the U.S. has already provided to Ukraine, and they could be very effective at clearing Russian defense lines during the ongoing counteroffensive, the magazine commented.

"Transferring DPICMs to Ukraine presents an opportunity to provide the Ukrainian Armed Forces with a powerful capability to use against the Russian army and mercenary forces," the lawmakers wrote in the letter on June 23.

The magazine also reported on Jan. 11 that Turkey provided Ukraine with the cluster munition, but Ankara denied it. The U.S. could provide the ammunition in a significantly larger amount, Foreign Policy commented, as its arsenal may amount to over 3 million pieces of DPICMs.

The use of cluster munitions carries humanitarian concerns, as the unexploded "bomblets" dispersed after the detonation may later cause harm or death to civilians.

The Biden administration is under increasing pressure from Congress to provide Ukraine with much-desired advanced weaponry, such as ATACMS, to bolster Kyiv's long-awaited counteroffensive to regain occupied territories.

Editorial: Arming Ukraine won’t escalate war. Reluctance to do so will

First it was the tanks, now it’s the fighter jets. As Ukraine braces for another possible major Russian offensive in the upcoming weeks, Western leaders are yet again coming up with a variety of excuses why this time, they cannot justify supplying F-16 and F-35 fighter jets to Ukraine.

The Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent