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Here’s What Cluster Munitions Do and Why They Are So Controversial [1]

['Victoria Kim', 'Gaya Gupta', 'John Ismay', 'More About Victoria Kim', 'More About Gaya Gupta', 'More About John Ismay']

Date: 2023-07-06

The United States agreed on Friday to provide Ukraine with cluster munitions, the controversial and widely banned weapons that can often cause indiscriminate harm to civilians, especially children, long after the fighting ends.

Ukraine has said the weapons would help in its counteroffensive against Russian troops by allowing its forces to effectively target entrenched Russian positions and to overcome its disadvantage in manpower and artillery.

The United States had demurred for months, citing concerns about the weapons’ use and saying they were not necessary. But in recent weeks, U.S. officials began signaling a shift from that stance. Laura Cooper, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, told U.S. lawmakers late last month that the Pentagon had determined that cluster munitions would be useful for Ukraine, “especially against dug-in Russian positions on the battlefield.”

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[1] Url: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/06/world/europe/ukraine-cluster-munitions.html

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