Republican Lawmakers Press Biden to
Send Cluster Bombs to Ukraine
Mike Stone / US News and World Report
(March 21, 2023) — Four Republican members of Congress urged US President Joe Biden to send cluster munitions to Ukraine, alleging in a Tuesday letter to the White House that the administration fears doing so would be seen as an escalation by Russia.
Ukraine is seeking the MK-20, an air-delivered cluster bomb, to release its individual explosives from drones, and 155 mm artillery cluster shells, Reuters reported earlier this month. Kyiv had urged members of Congress to press the White House to approve sending the weapons.
The letter criticized Biden for “reluctance to provide Ukraine the right type and amount of long-range fires and maneuver capability to create” a breakthrough against Russian forces.
The letter was signed by Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Mike McCaul, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Mike Rogers the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
It urged Biden to send the Dual-Purpose Conventional Improved Munitions (DPICM) found in several types of US munitions, including 155 millimeter artillery, GMLRS and ATACMS.
It is by no means certain the Biden administration would sign off on a transfer.
Cluster munitions, banned by more than 120 countries, normally release large numbers of smaller bomblets that can kill indiscriminately over a wide area, threatening civilians.
Copyright 2023 Thomson Reuters.
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Four Leading Republicans Urge Biden to Send Cluster Bombs to Ukraine
Cluster bombs kill civilians and are banned by over 100 countries
(March 21, 2023) — Four leading Republicans in Congress have sent a letter to President Biden urging him to provide Kyiv with cluster bombs, controversial munitions that endanger civilians by spreading small bomblets over large areas.
Due to the harm they cause civilians, cluster bombs have been banned by over 100 countries under the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions. But Russia, Ukraine, and the US are not signatories to the treaty.
The letter to Biden was signed by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), the chair of the House Armed Services Committee, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Jim Risch (R-ID), the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Ukraine has been asking the US to send cluster bombs, specifically the MK-20, an air-delivered cluster bomb, and a 155mm artillery cluster shell. Both Russian and Ukrainian forces have used cluster munitions in the war. Kyiv had used them years earlier in the Donbas war against populated areas of Donestk in 2014.
In the letter, the Republican lawmakers urged Biden to send cluster munitions, including the Dual Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions (DPICM), which have several types of variants. DPICM are available as 155mm artillery rounds, GMLRS rockets that Ukraine has been using with the HIMARS rocket systems, and ATACMS, missiles that have a range of up to 190 miles that the US has not yet provided Kyiv.
According to the lawmakers, the US has three million rounds of DPICMs available. They argue sending the widely-banned munition could alleviate pressure on other US stockpiles. They said Ukrainian leaders are aware of the “risks to noncombatants associated” with cluster bombs but say the risk to civilians “pales in comparison” to the threat posed by Russia.
Posted in accordance with Title 17, Section 107, US Code, for noncommercial, educational purposes.
