U.S. Announces Cluster Munitions Aid Package to Ukraine Despite Global Condemnation

May 04, 2024

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Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Ukraine’s latest cluster munitions aid package, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s ruling coalition collapse, Switzerland’s and Austria’s decision to join a Germany-led military initiative, and Rahul Gandhi’s legal setback in India.

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Ukraine’s latest cluster munitions aid package, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s ruling coalition collapse, Switzerland’s and Austria’s decision to join a Germany-led military initiative, and Rahul Gandhi’s legal setback in India.

By submitting your email, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to receive email correspondence from us. You may opt out at any time.

Cluster Bombs for Kyiv

The Biden administration announced on Friday that it would provide Ukraine with up to $800 million worth of military equipment to assist the country’s counteroffensive against Russia. The package includes Bradley and Stryker armored vehicles, howitzer rounds, ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, and, most significantly, thousands of cluster munitions.

Cluster bombs, also known as dual-purpose improved conventional munitions, or DPICMs, are explosives that release dozens of bomblets into the air, dispersing the submunitions over large areas; a single canister can cover almost 8 acres of land. Both Russian and Ukrainian forces have used these weapons in the last 16 months. Specifically, Russian troops have targeted civilian areas with cluster munitions, sparking accusations of war crimes from human rights organizations. Meanwhile, Ukraine has used cluster bombs provided by Turkey against Russian military targets and has repeatedly asked Western nations for more.

But what makes cluster munitions so controversial is not their use against war infrastructure but rather their impact on civilian populations. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, up to 40 percent of cluster bombs result in unexploded rounds, or “duds,” which can cause civilian deaths long after a conflict is over. According to senior U.S. officials, the United States will supply cluster munitions with a reduced “dud rate” of less than 3 percent.

The United Nations has repeatedly denounced the use of cluster bombs by both Russia and Ukraine, pointing to a ruling in the Geneva Conventions that bans their use against civilians. Even Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said in March 2022—immediately following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—that DPICMs have “no place on the battlefield”; the U.S. State Department has since struck out her denouncement from the speech’s official transcript.

Much of the international community continues to condemn the use of cluster bombs. In 2008, more than 100 countries joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which prohibits the use, production, transfer, and stockpiling of cluster munitions. However, the United States, Russia, and Ukraine never signed the prohibition. “Cluster munitions will not differentiate a Ukrainian soldier from a Russian one,” Daryl Kimball, the executive director of the Arms Control Association, told FP’s Situation Report. “The effectiveness of cluster munitions is significantly oversold, and the impact on noncombatants is widely acknowledged but too often overlooked.”

Today’s Most Read

What We’re Following

A Rutte awakening. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s ruling coalition collapsed on Friday after just a year and a half in office. The bloc’s four parties were unable to agree on policies that would limit the flow of asylum-seekers, something Rutte has been trying to accomplish since the country faced overcrowded migration centers last year.

Specifically, Rutte failed to pass a 200-person cap on the number of war refugee relatives allowed in the country each month. This was Rutte’s fourth governing coalition, having been prime minister since 2010. New elections will now likely be held in the fall.

Not so neutral anymore? Switzerland and Austria want in on the defensive action. The two historically neutral nations signed a memorandum on Friday that signaled their intent to join Sky Shield, a German-led military initiative that aims to strengthen Europe’s air defense capabilities. Seventeen other nations are already part of the project, which promotes improved training and research cooperation to combat growing Russian aggression toward the West.

Both nations said joining Sky Shield would not impact their policies of neutrality. However, critics see the memorandum as just the latest in a series of actions both countries have taken to bind themselves closer to their European neighbors since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Immediately following Russia’s invasion last year, Switzerland adopted all European Union sanctions against Russia and froze the Kremlin’s assets. And Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen has repeatedly urged the nation’s government to assist Ukraine in demining civilian areas, such as schools and residential neighborhoods.

Suspension, denied. Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi faced a major legal setback on Friday when the Gujarat High Court refused to suspend his conviction in a defamation case. Gandhi was sentenced to two years in prison for remarks he made during an election rally in 2019 about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surname. “Why is it that all thieves have Modi as a common name?” he asked at the time. The two-year punishment was deemed particularly harsh by critics, who argued that the court’s decision was politically motivated.

So long as Gandhi’s conviction remains, the opposition leader is barred from running for office, meaning he will likely be ineligible for next year’s general elections. This would grant Modi’s ruling far-right Bharatiya Janata Party a better chance at clinching a parliamentary majority. Modi has cracked down on critics and dissidents in his bid to secure continued control, including by restricting press freedom and banning a BBC documentary that criticized his record while chief minister of Gujarat.

Lula’s environmental win. The Amazon is alive with the sound of saved trees. On Thursday, the Brazilian government announced that deforestation in Brazil’s section of the world’s largest rainforest had dropped nearly 34 percent during the first six months of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s term. This marks a big win for Lula, who campaigned on undoing his predecessor’s damaging environmental policies by clamping down on illegal logging and supporting Indigenous rights.

Lula’s latest success comes on the heels of a new World Resources Institute study saying the tropics lost 10.1 million acres of primary rainforest in 2022—while former President Jair Bolsonaro was still in power. Now, Lula must maintain his optimistic deforestation reversal track record as the annual U.N. Climate Change Conference approaches in November.

What in the World?

How much money did the United Arab Emirates on Thursday pledge to help rebuild the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, which was decimated by an Israeli military operation earlier this week?

A. $3 millionB. $7 millionC. $12 millionD. $15 million

Odds and Ends

As Spain’s top contenders on Thursday kicked off their campaigns for the July 23 general election, one candidate chose a more provocative tactic. Macarena Olona, who once represented the far-right Vox party but is now running with her newly founded centrist Caminando Juntos party, launched her campaign from a brothel in Granada. “It’s a place where one normally finds politicians,” she said.

And the Answer Is…

D. $15 million

The operation was partially the result of a weak and unpopular Palestinian Authority, which provides space for terrorist operations to flourish, Dennis Ross and Ghaith al-Omari write.

To take the rest of FP’s weekly international news quiz, click here or sign up to be alerted when a new one is published.

Alexandra Sharp is the World Brief writer at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @AlexandraSSharp

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