US President Joe Biden has defended his “very difficult decision” to give Ukraine cluster bombs, which have a record of killing civilians.
The president said it took him “some time to be convinced to do this”, but he did it because “the Ukrainians are running out of ammunition”.
The Ukrainian leader praised the “timely” move.
But Britain’s prime minister advised the country to “encourage” the use of cluster bombs, while Spain criticized the decision.
Rishi Singh said the UK is one of several countries that have signed a convention that bans the production or use of cluster munitions and discourages their use.
He said that we will continue to play our role to support Ukraine against Russia’s illegal and unprovoked attack.
Human rights groups and some Democrats have also spoken out against the decision, while Moscow has accused the US of “misconduct”.
Mr. Biden told JEE News in an interview on Friday that he had spoken to allies about the decision, which comes ahead of next week’s NATO summit in Lithuania.
Cluster bombs are banned by more than 120 countries, but both Russia and Ukraine have used them during the war.
National security adviser Jack Sullivan told the daily White House briefing on Friday that officials “recognize cluster munitions pose a threat to civilian casualties from unexploded bombs”.
“That’s why we’ve delayed this decision as long as we could.”
Mr Sullivan said Ukraine was running out of artillery and needed “a supply bridge” while the US ramped up domestic production.
He said that we will not leave Ukraine defenseless at any time during this conflict.
The munitions have caused controversy over their failure – or dud – rate, meaning small unexploded bombs can lie on the ground for years and later detonate indiscriminately.
Mr Sullivan told reporters that US cluster bombs being sent to Ukraine were far safer than those he said Russia was already using in the conflict.
He told reporters that Americans have a dead rate of less than 2.5 percent, while Russia has a dead rate between 30-40 percent.
Mr Biden’s move would bypass US law banning the production, use or transfer of cluster munitions with a failure rate of more than 1%.
Early in the war, when the White House was asked about allegations that Russia was using cluster and vacuum bombs, the press secretary at the time said it would be a potential “war crime” if true.
Speaking to the UN human rights office, Marta Hurtado said on Friday: “The use of such munitions must stop immediately and must not be used anywhere.”
